Optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method and optical division multiplexing transmission and reception device

ABSTRACT

An OCDM signal generation section generates an encoded optical pulse signal by encoded an optical pulse signal. The encoded optical pulse signal is then inputted to a wavelength disperser and the time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signal is shaped to be outputted as a shaped and encoded optical pulse signal. A WDM signal generation section generates an optical wavelength division multiplexing signal. A OCDM signal extraction section then decodes the OCDM reception signal by using the same code as the time-spreading/wavelength-hopping code for each channel and generates a decoded OCDM reception signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/361,357, filed Feb. 24, 2006, the subject matter of which applicationis incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, which claims thebenefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-050558, filed on Feb.25, 2005, in the Japanese Patent Office, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an optical division multiplexingtransmission and reception method and an optical division multiplexingtransmission and reception device and, more particularly, to a methodand device that make it possible for wavelength division multiplexing(WDM) transmission and reception and optical code division multiplexing(OCDM) transmission and reception to coexist. Further, the presentinvention relates to a method, and device that make it possible foroptical time division multiplexing (OTDM) transmission and reception andOCDM transmission and reception to coexist.

2. Description of Related Art

In order to increase the speed or capacity of optical fibercommunications, an optical division multiplexing technology thattransmits a plurality of channels' worth of optical pulse signals alltogether on one optical fiber transmission line has been investigated.As means for the optical division multiplexing, WDM, which separateschannels by means of the wavelengths of the optical pulses constitutingthe optical pulse signals, OTDM, which separates channels by means ofthe time slots that are occupied by the optical pulses that constitutethe optical pulse signals, and OCDM, which separates channels by meansof pattern matching of encoded optical pulse signals have each beenresearched.

Therefore, WDM and OTDM will be described first with reference toFIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic block constitutional view of an opticaldivision multiplexing transmission and reception device in which atransmission section 100 and reception section 200 are constitutedlinked by an optical fiber 105, which is a transmission line. The numberof channels is denoted as n.

The transmission section 100 comprises a transmitter 101, transmitter102, and transmitter 103 for the first to nth channels respectively.Further, a multiplexing device 104 that mixes and multiplexes theoptical pulse signals of the first to nth channels outputted from thetransmitters is provided. The transmitter 101, transmitter 102, andtransmitter 103 convert electrical signal 110, electrical signal 111,and electrical signal 112 of the first to nth channels into the opticalpulse signal 120, optical pulse signal 121, and optical pulse signal 122respectively. The optical pulse signals outputted from the respectivetransmitters of the first to nth channels are mixed and multiplexed bythe multiplexing device 104 and outputted as an optical divisionmultiplexing signal 126.

The optical division multiplexing signal 126 outputted from themultiplexing device 104 is transmitted to the reception section 200through propagation via the optical fiber 105 constituting thetransmission line.

The reception section 200 comprises a receiver 107, receiver 108, andreceiver 109 for the first to nth channels respectively. Further, aseparator 106 that separates the optical division multiplexing signal126 that is inputted to the receivers is provided.

Here, the optical division multiplexing transmission and receptiondevice shown in FIG. 1 will first be described as a WDM transmission andreception device. In the case of the WDM transmission and receptiondevice, light of a different wavelength for each channel is allocated asthe carrier wave for the respective channel information. That is, in thecase of a WDM transmission and reception method and a device thatimplements this method, the wavelength of the carrier-wave light playsthe role of an identifier for identifying the channel.

An optical coupler, for example, is used as the multiplexing device 104.Further, an optical element rendered by combining an optical coupler andoptical wavelength filter, for example, or an optical element that has awavelength separation function such as an Array Waveguide Grating (AWG)is used as the separator 106. Therefore, the inputtedmultiple-wavelength optical division multiplexing signal 126 isseparated by the separator 106 into wavelengths that are allocated toeach channel which are then outputted. As a result, optical pulsesignals of wavelengths that are allocated to the respective channels aresupplied to the receiver 107, receiver 108, and receiver 109.

OTDM will be described next. The optical division multiplexingtransmission and reception device shown in FIG. 1 is described as anOTDM transmission and reception device. Optical pulse signals that aremodulated to the RZ (Return to Zero) format are outputted from thetransmitter 101, transmitter 102, and transmitter 103. When the opticalpulse signals of the first to nth channels are mixed by the multiplexingdevice 104, adjustment of the timing for inputting the optical pulses tothe time slots provided for all the channels is performed by using avariable delay line or the like, for example.

A combination of an optical coupler that intensity-divides the opticaldivision multiplexing signal 126 outputted from the multiplexing device104 according to the number of channels, and an optical modulator thatallows light of only a specified time slot to be transmitted, forexample, is used for the separator 106. The separator 106 separates theoptical division multiplexing signal 126 into each channel and theoptical pulse signal 123 of the first channel, the optical pulse signal124 of the second channel, and the optical pulse signal 125 of the nthchannel are supplied to the receiver 107, receiver 108, and receiver 109of the respective channels. The receiver 107, receiver 108, and receiver109 convert the O/E converted optical pulse signals into electricalpulse signals and receive the electrical pulse signals 113, 114, and 115of the respective channels.

The dispositional relationship of the optical pulses that constitute therespective optical pulse signals on the wavelength axis and time axis ofWDM and OTDM respectively will now be described with reference to FIGS.2A and 2B. FIG. 2A shows an aspect in which the respective channels arearranged divided on the wavelength axis for WDM. Further, FIG. 2B showsan aspect in which the respective channels are allocated to eachpositional slot divided into time slots on the time axis for OTDM.

When FIGS. 2A and 2B are referenced, it can be seen that the wavelengthbandwidth is used in the WDM case and time slots designated throughdivision on the time axis are used in the OTDM case in order to allocatethe respective channels. That is, WDM and OTDM are systems in which oneof the physical resources such as wavelengths or time slots in which onechannel is divided on the wavelength axis or time axis is used occupied.

It can be seen from the above description that, for OTDM, the wavelengthof the light source is basically not a problem. However, in order toincrease the number of multiplexed channels in OTDM, the time slotsallocated to the respective channels must be shortened and thehalf-value width on the time axis of the optical pulses constituting theoptical pulse signals must also be narrowed.

On the other hand, in the case of WDM, separation from multiplexedoptical pulse signals into optical pulse signals for each channel can beimplemented by a passive light component with a wavelength separationfunction. Further, an optical pulse signal in the RZ format or an NRZ(Non-Return to Zero) format signal can be applied as an optical pulsesignal and the number of multiplexed channels can be changed evenwithout changing the transmission speed (bit rate). In addition, meritssuch as the fact that asynchronous multiplexing can also be implementedare combined. As a result, WDM-related research has been vigorouslyperformed until now and is currently put to practical use.

Recently, research into OCDM, which is a method different from WDM andOTDM mentioned above, has begun as an optical multiplexing method. Themerit of OCDM is that there is no need to occupy one of the physicalresources such as wavelengths or time slots in which one channel isdivided on the wavelength axis or time axis as per WDM and OTDM.

The constitution and functions of an example of an OCDM device will bedescribed to with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3E (See N. Wada, et al.,“Error-free transmission of 2-channel×2.5 Gbit/stime-spread/wavelength-hop OCDM using fibre Bragg grating withsupercontinuum light source”, ECOC'99, September 1999) and JapanesePatent Application Laid Open No. 2000-209186, for example). The OCDMdevice shown in FIG. 3A is a constitution in which a transmissionsection 300 and a reception section 400 are linked by a transmissionline 310. The transmission line 310 is an optical fiber. In order toavoid a complicated description, FIG. 3A shows a device that assumestransmission and reception on two channels. It is clear from thefollowing description that an OCDM device that permits transmission andreception on three or more channels can be similarly implemented byincreasing the number of channels.

The transmission section 300 comprises a first-channel encoder 303, asecond-channel encoder 304, and a multiplexer 307. The first channelencoder 303 encodes a first-channel optical pulse signal 301 by means ofcode supplied by Code 1 and outputs the result as the first-channelencoded optical pulse signal 305. The second-channel encoder 304similarly encodes a second-channel optical pulse signal 302 by means ofcode supplied by Code 2 and outputs the result as the second-channelencoded optical pulse signal 306.

FIG. 3B shows the time waveforms of the first- and second-channeloptical pulse signals. The optical pulses constituting the first- andsecond-channel optical pulse signals contain light components ofdifferent wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, and λ₃. In order to illustrate this,rectangles that surround the numbers 1, 2, and 3 that identify thewavelengths λ₁, λ₂, and λ₃ are expediently shown stacked on the sametime. Here, optical pulse signals that are constituted by optical pulsescontaining wavelengths of three different types are assumed andillustrated. However, the types of wavelengths that are generallycontained in optical pulses are not limited to three types and thefollowing description is similarly established in cases where two ormore than two types are established.

The fact that the optical pulses contain light components of thedifferent wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, and λ₃ and so forth means that, when theoptical pulses are arranged broken down on the wavelength axis, that isdivided, division is into optical pulses whose center wavelengths areλ_(i), λ₂, and λ₃ and so forth. Further, optical pulses that comprise asingle optical wavelength component that is obtained by wavelengthbreakdown of optical pulses constituted comprising a plurality of lightcomponents will also be referred to subsequently as a chip pulse.

Hereinafter, it is assumed that optical pulses containing differentwavelength components are shown by stacking rectangles surroundingidentification numbers denoting the wavelengths of the wavelengthcomponents on the same time. Further, in order to identify thefirst-channel optical pulses and second-channel optical pulses, thesecond-channel optical pulses is shown shaded.

FIG. 3C shows a first-channel encoded optical pulse signal 305 andsecond-channel encoded optical pulse signal 306 with respect to the timeaxis. As shown in FIG. 3C, when the first-channel encoded optical pulsesignal 305, for example, is considered, the optical pulses constitutingthe first-channel optical pulse signal 301 are divided by the encoder303 into optical pulses (chip pulses) with the center wavelengths λ₁,λ₂, and λ₃ and arranged after undergoing time spreading on the timeaxis. The same is true of the second-channel encoded optical pulsesignal 306. However, because the code (Code1) established for thefirst-channel encoder and the code (Code2) established for thesecond-channel encoder are different codes, the positions for arrangingthe respective chip pulses arranged on the time axis of the first- andsecond-channel encoded optical pulse signals are different.

Thus, the encoding performed by the device shown in FIG. 3A is a methodthat performs encoding by subjecting the optical pulses to timespreading on the time axis and then division into optical pulses (chippulses) with the center wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, and λ₃ that constitute theoptical pulses and is therefore known as encoding by means oftime-spreading/wavelength-hopping code. That is, encoding of the first-and second-channel input optical pulse signals 301 and 302 by means oftime-spreading/wavelength-hopping code by means of the first-channelencoder 303 and second-channel encoder 304 is performed.

FIG. 3D shows an optical code division multiplexing signal 308 renderedby multiplexing the first-channel encoded optical pulse signal 305 andsecond-channel encoded optical pulse signal 306 by means of themultiplexer 307. The multiplexer 307 affords a multiplexer function ofmultiplexing optical signals of a plurality of channels. A chip pulsearray that constitutes the first-channel encoded optical pulse signal305 and a chip pulse array that constitutes the second-channel encodedoptical pulse signal 306 are stacked on the same time axis as shown inFIG. 3C. Here, in order to be able to identify the chip pulsesconstituting the first-channel encoded optical pulse signal and the chippulses constituting the second-channel encoded optical pulse signal, thelatter second-channel encoded optical pulse signal is shaded.

The optical code division multiplexing signal 308 is sent to thereception section 400 through propagation via the transmission line 310.The reception section 400 comprises a splitter 410, and a first-channeldecoder 413 and second-channel decoder 414. The splitter 410 subjectsthe optical code division multiplexing signal 308 to intensity division,supplying one of the split signals to the first-channel decoder 413 as asplit optical code division multiplexing signal 411 and the other to thesecond-channel decoder 414 as a split optical code division multiplexingsignal 412.

The first-channel decoder 413 plays back the split optical code divisionmultiplexing signal 411 by decoding same by means of code that issupplied by Code 1 and outputs the decoded signal as a first-channeloptical pulse signal 415. The second-channel decoder 414 similarly playsback the split optical code division multiplexing signal 412 by decodingsame by means of code that is supplied by Code 2 and outputs the decodedsignal as a second-channel optical pulse signal 416. The optical pulsesignals that are played back by the respective decoders are alsosubsequently called the decoded optical pulse signals.

FIG. 3E shows that the optical code division multiplexing signal 308undergoes intensity division for each of the first and second channelsby means of the splitter 410 with which the reception section 400 isprovided and shows the decoded optical pulse signals that are decoded bythe first-channel decoder 413 and second-channel decoder 414 for thefirst and second channels.

First, the first-channel decoded optical pulse signal 415 will bedescribed. In an aspect that represents the optical intensity withrespect to the time axis of the first channel in FIG. 3E, chip pulsesthat originate in the second-channel optical pulse signal are shown byshaded rectangles that surround the numbers identifying the wavelengthand chip pulses that originate in the first-channel optical pulse signaldo not have shaded rectangles that surround the numbers identifying thewavelengths.

The chip pulses originating in the first-channel optical pulse signalare chip pulses that are generated encoded by code supplied by Code 1and, therefore, if the chip pulses are decoded by means of code suppliedby the same Code 1, the respective chip pulses are arranged to occupythe same positions on the time axis with the time delays provided duringencoding exactly offset. That is, the original optical pulse signal isplayed back as an autocorrelation waveform.

Looking at the diagram representing the optical intensity with respectto the time axis of the first channel in FIG. 3E, unshaded rectanglesthat surround the numbers 1, 2, and 3 are stacked on the same time. Onthe other hand, shaded rectangles that surround the numbers 1, 2, and 3appear as a mutual interlayer waveforms that are arranged dispersed indifferent positions on the time axis. Shaded rectangles that surroundthe numbers 1, 2, and 3 are chip pulses that originate in the secondchannel and are chip pulses that constitute encoded optical pulsesignals that are encoded by means of Code 2. That is, because theencoded optical pulse signal component comprising chip pulsesoriginating in the second channel is executed by means of codes whichare different for encoding and decoding, the time lag provided duringencoding is not offset during decoding and is constituted as a mutualinterlayer waveform that is time-dispersed once again.

In a drawing that represents the optical intensity with respect to thetime axis of the second channel in FIG. 3E, a relationship results thatis the inverse of that described above. That is, chip pulses originatingin the second channel form autocorrelation waveforms and chip pulsesoriginating in the first channel form mutual correlation waveforms. Thisis because the constitution is such that the second channel is encodedby code that is provided by means of Code 2 and decoded by code that isprovided by Code 2.

Because the intensity-divided optical code division multiplexing signal412 is decoded by means of code that is provided by Code 2, the time lagprovided during encoding of the chip pulses originating in the firstchannel that are encoded by means of code provided by Code 1 containedin the optical code division multiplexing signal 412 is not offsetduring decoding and the chip pulses are constituted once again astime-spread mutual correlation waveforms. On the other hand, the timelag provided during encoding of the chip pulses originating in thesecond channel that are encoded by code that is provided by Code 2contained in the optical code division multiplexing signal 412 is offsetduring decoding and constituted as an autocorrelation waveform.

As described hereinabove, the decoded optical pulse signal 415 of thefirst channel and the decoded optical pulse signal 416 of the secondchannel are established as the sum of autocorrelation waveforms andmutual correlation waveforms respectively. As shown in FIG. 3E, becausethe peak intensity is different in the autocorrelation waveform and themutual correlation waveform (the peak of the autocorrelation waveform islarger), if the mutual correlation waveform component is removed bysubjecting the peak values of the waveforms to a threshold valuejudgment in which the size of the peak values are judged with respect toa preset threshold value, only the autocorrelation waveform component isremoved. If the respective autocorrelation waveform components of eachchannel can be extracted, the autocorrelation waveforms are therespective optical pulse signals that are played back and, therefore, ifthe optical pulse signals are converted to electrical signals, thetransmitted information can be received.

Encoding and decoding methods include a method for encoding an opticalpulse signal that uses light of a single wavelength in addition to thetime-spreading/wavelength-hopping method. With this method, encoding isperformed by arranging the optical pulses that constitute the opticalpulse signal on a time axis by means of breakdown into chip pulses witha phase difference provided between the respective chip pulses (See P.C. Teh, et al. “Demonstration of a Four-Channel WDM/OCDMA System Using255-Chip 320-Gchip/s Quarternary Phase Coding Gratings” IEEE, PhotonicsTechnology Letters., vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 227-229, February 2002), forexample). This encoding is also known as time-spreading encoding.

A Super Structure Fiber Bragg Grating (SSFBG) is known as an example ofmeans for implementing the encoding and decoding. The structure andoperation of an FBG optical encoder will now be described with referenceto FIGS. 4A and 4B. In FIG. 4A, an aspect in which the refractive indexdistribution structure and the refractive index variation of the core ofthe optical fiber in which an SSFBG is formed is shown divided into anupper view and a lower view. As shown in the upper view of FIG. 4A, theinputted optical pulse is inputted to the SSFBG from the left side ofFIG. 4A and the chip pulse array thus generated is also outputted fromthe left side. In the case of the SSFBG shown in FIG. 4A, because unitsFBG G1, FBG G2, and FBG G3 are arranged in series, code of code length 3is established for the SSFBG. Hereinafter, an SSFBG that is constitutedwith a plurality of units FBG arranged in series will also be knownsimply as an FBG.

The refractive index modulation cycles (also called the ‘grating pitch)’of the units FBG G1, FBG G2, and FBG G3 are Λ₁, Λ₂, and Λ₃ respectivelyas shown by the lower view of FIG. 4A. Generally, there is the relationλ=2nΛ between the refractive index modulation cycle A and the Braggreflection wavelength λ. Here, n is the average refractive index of FBG.That is, the Bragg reflection wavelength λ of unit FBG is determined byestablishing the grating pitch Λ of unit FBG.

Here, when a plurality of units FBG with different grating pitches arearranged in series in one optical fiber, light (also known as ‘Braggreflection light’ hereinbelow) of wavelengths corresponding with thegrating pitch is obtained from each unit FBG. The Bragg reflection lightthat is reflected from the respective units FBG is reflected withdifferent time lags in accordance with the points at which the units FBGare disposed. The use of this fact is encoding using FBG time spreadingwaveform hopping.

A constitutional example of an FBG optical encoder will now be describedwith reference to FIG. 4B. The optical encoder shown in FIG. 4B isconstituted comprising an FBG 352 and an optical circulator 350. Theencoded optical pulses are inputted from the input port 348 on theleft-hand side of FIG. 4B to the FBG 352 via the optical circulator 350as input light. Because the FBG 352 comprises units FBG G1, FBG G2, andFBG G3, Bragg reflection light of different wavelengths reflected fromthe respective units FBG is reflected. The Bragg reflection light isoutputted as encoded optical pulses from an input port 354 on theright-hand side of FIG. 4B via the optical circulator 350.

Means constituted by combining an AWG (Array Waveguide Grating) andoptical delay line are also known in addition to the abovementioned FBGas an optical encoder that is capable of implementing time-spreadingwavelength hopping encoding (See S. Yegnanarayanan, et al., “Anincoherent wavelength hopping/time spreading code-division multipleaccess system”, ECOC'99, September 1999), for example).

Procedures for removing the autocorrelation waveform component byseparating the autocorrelation waveform component and the mutualcorrelation waveform component from the optical pulse signal decoded onthe reception side include a time gate method in addition to theabovementioned method that uses a threshold value judgment. A time gatemethod is a method that uses time gate means that transmit signals onlyin a time zone in which the autocorrelation waveform passes byperforming time adjustment so that the mutual correlation waveformoverlaps the autocorrelation waveform.

As time gate means, a time gate method that uses an electro-absorptionmodulator (EA modulator) is known (See Naoki Minato et al., IEICEOCS2003-24, pages 49 to 54, May 2003, for example). That is, thetransmission rate of the EA modulator increases by the time zone throughwhich the autocorrelation waveform passes and, as a result of slightcontrol in the time zone through which the mutual correlation waveformcomponent passes, a time gate is implemented. The control of thetransmission rate of the EA modulator employs a clock signal.

Further, as time gate means, a time gate method that uses an SOA(Semiconductor Optical Amplifier) is known (See K. Kitayama et al.,“Optical Code Division Multiplexing (OCDM) and Its Applications toPhotonics Networks”, IEICE Trans. Fundamentals, vol. E82-A, No. 12 pp.2616-2626, December 1999), for example). This method first extracts anoptical clock from a portion of the signals that are decoded by using amode synchronization semiconductor laser. Thereafter, the decodedsignals and optical clock are inputted to the SOA and the SOA producesthe four-wave mixing effect in sync with the optical clock. Further, thetime gate means are implemented such that only optical pulsesoverlapping the time zone in which the SOA is in the ON state can betransmitted by the SOA as a result of the four-wave mixing effect thatis produced in sync with the optical clock.

As mentioned hereinabove, the OCDM has the characteristic that there isnot necessarily a need for one channel to occupy one of the physicalresources (wavelength bandwidth and time slot or the like). On the otherhand, with WDM, there is a need to allocate a different wavelengthbandwidth to each channel. Further, with OTDM, it is necessary toallocate a different time slot to each channel on the time axis.

Furthermore, with OCDM, the code that was used during encoding must beknown in order to decode the encoded optical pulse signal that was sentencoded on the reception side. Hence, unless the code used to encode thetransmitted optical pulse signal is published, a third party who isunaware of the code is unable to decode the encoded optical pulsesignal. This is because optical communications using OCDM are highlystable in comparison with optical communications using WDM or OTDM orthe like.

In addition, merits of OCDM include the fact that an increase in thenumber of channels can be dealt with flexibly. For example, with WDM, inorder to increase the number of channels within the restrictedcommunication wavelength bandwidth, the wavelength bandwidth allocatedto all the channels must be reset by narrowing the wavelength bandwidthallocated to each channel. Further, similarly with OTDM, in order toincrease the number of channels within the restricted communicationwavelength bandwidth, the time slots allocated to all the channels mustbe reset by narrowing the width of the time slots allocated to eachchannel. Before optical communications are to be performed by means ofWDM or OTDM, the light source, wavelength separator, and so forthconstituting the optical communication device that is used must bechanged.

On the other hand, in the case of OCDM, if the size of the ratio betweenthe peak value of the mutual correlation waveform and the peak value ofthe autocorrelation waveform can be secured to the extent of being ableto extract an autocorrelation waveform by removing the mutualcorrelation waveform from the decoded optical pulse signal, channels canbe added simply by adding code types. That is, the addition of newchannels can be implemented simply by adding an encoding section anddecoding section for which new codes corresponding with the newly addedchannels have been set without changing the constituent parts ofchannels other than the added channels of the optical communicationdevice.

If a method and device that allow WDM transmission and reception andOCDM transmission and reception to be implemented at the same timewithout changing the hardware resources of the WDM optical multiplexingcommunication system can be implemented, the number of channels that canbe received can be increased. Alternatively, if a method and device thatallow OTDM transmission and reception and OCDM transmission andreception to be implemented at the same time can be implemented, thenumber of channels that can be transmitted and received can beincreased. In addition, OCDM transmission and reception afford theabove-mentioned benefits.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an opticalmultiplexing transmission and reception device and optical multiplexingtransmission and reception method in which an OCDM channel is addedwithout changing the wavelength bandwidth used by the existing WDMchannel. Further, an object is to provide an optical multiplexingtransmission and reception device and optical multiplexing transmissionand reception method in which an OCDM channel is added without changingthe time slot allocated to the existing OTDM channel.

Here, the WDM channel, OTDM channel, and OCDM channel indicate channelsthat are transmitted and received by means of WDM, OTDM, and OCDMrespectively. The WDM channel, OTDM channel, and OCDM channel are usedwith this meaning hereinafter.

The optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method of afirst invention comprises a transmission step that comprises, inparallel, an optical code division multiplexing signal generation stepand an optical wavelength division multiplexing signal generation step,and a reception step that comprises, in parallel, an optical codedivision multiplexing signal extraction step and an optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing signal extraction step.

The optical code division multiplexing signal generation step comprisesan encoding step and a time waveform shaping step. The encoding step isa step that generates an encoded optical pulse signal by encoding anoptical pulse signal by using time-spreading wavelength-hopping codethat is different for each channel. The time waveform shaping step is astep that generates a shaped and encoded optical pulse signal by shapingthe time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signal.

The optical wavelength division multiplexing signal generation step is astep that generates an optical wavelength division multiplexing signalby allocating a wavelength that is different for each channel.

The transmission step also comprises a multiplexing step that generatesan optical division multiplexing signal by multiplexing the shaped andencoded optical pulse signal and optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal.

The reception step comprises a branching step that divides the opticaldivision multiplexing signal into an optical code division multiplexingreception signal and an optical wavelength division multiplexingreception signal.

The optical code division multiplexing signal extraction step isconstituted comprising a decoding step, a time waveform restoration stepand a first threshold value judgment step. The decoding step is a stepthat generates a decoded optical code division multiplexing receptionsignal by decoding the optical code division multiplexing receptionsignal by using the same code as the time-spreading/wavelength-hoppingcode for each channel. The time waveform restoration step is a step thatgenerates a reproduced optical pulse signal by restoring the shapedoptical pulse signal component contained in the decoded optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal. The first threshold valuejudgment step is a step that extracts only the autocorrelation waveformcomponent of the optical pulse signal from the reproduced optical pulsesignal.

The optical wavelength division multiplexing signal extraction step isconstituted comprising a wavelength division step that generates anoptical wavelength division signal for each channel through wavelengthdivision of the optical wavelength division multiplexing receptionsignal and a second threshold value judgment step that extracts theoptical wavelength division multiplexing signal by performing athreshold value judgment for the optical wavelength division signal.

Further, a characteristic of the first invention is that the opticalcode division multiplexing signal generation step comprises a timewaveform shaping step that generates a shaped and encoded optical pulsesignal by shaping the time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signal.Further, a characteristic of the first invention is that the opticalcode division multiplexing signal extraction step comprises a timewaveform restoration step of generating a reproduced optical pulsesignal by restoring the shaped optical pulse signal component containedin the decoded optical code division multiplexing reception signal.

The optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method ofthe first invention is implemented by the following optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device. That is, the opticaldivision multiplexing transmission and reception device that implementsthe optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method ofthe first invention comprises a transmission section that comprises inparallel an optical code division multiplexing signal generation signaland an optical wavelength division multiplexing signal generationsection, and a reception section that comprises in parallel an opticalcode division multiplexing signal extraction section and an opticalwavelength division multiplexing signal extraction section.

The optical code division multiplexing signal generation step isexecuted by the optical code division multiplexing signal generationsection. The optical code division multiplexing signal generationsection comprises an encoder and a wavelength disperser. The encodergenerates an encoded optical pulse signal by encoding the optical pulsesignal of each channel by allocating time-spreading/wavelength-hoppingcode that is different for each channel. Further, the wavelengthdisperser generates a shaped and encoded optical pulse signal by shapingthe time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signal.

The optical wavelength division multiplexing signal generation step isexecuted by the optical wavelength division multiplexing signalgeneration section. The optical wavelength division multiplexing signalgeneration section generates an optical wavelength division multiplexingsignal by allocating a different wavelength to each channel.

The transmission section further comprises a multiplexer that generatesan optical division multiplexing signal by multiplexing a shaped andencoded optical pulse signal and an optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal.

The reception section comprises a de-multiplexer that divides thereceived optical division multiplexing signal into an optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal and an optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing reception signal.

The optical code division multiplexing signal extraction step isexecuted by the optical code division multiplexing signal extractionsection. The optical code division multiplexing signal extractionsection comprises a decoder, an inverse wavelength disperser and a firstthreshold value judgment section. The decoder decodes the optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal by using the same code as thetime-spreading/wavelength-hopping code used during encoding for eachchannel and generates a decoded optical code division multiplexingreception signal. The inverse wavelength disperser performs wavelengthdispersion in which absolute values are equal and codes are reversedwith respect to the dispersion values of the abovementioned wavelengthdisperser. That is, a reproduced optical pulse signal is generated byrestoring the shaped optical pulse signal component contained in thedecoded optical code division multiplexing reception signal. The firstthreshold value judgment section extracts only the autocorrelationwaveform component of the optical pulse signal from the reproducedoptical pulse signal.

The optical wavelength division multiplexing signal extraction step isexecuted by the optical wavelength division multiplexing signalextraction section. The optical wavelength division multiplexing signalextraction section comprises a wavelength de-multiplexer that generatesan optical wavelength division signal for each channel throughwavelength division of the optical wavelength division multiplexingreception signal and a second threshold value judgment section thatextracts an optical wavelength division multiplexing signal byperforming a threshold value judgment on the optical wavelength divisionsignal.

Further, the characteristic of the optical division multiplexingtransmission and reception device that implements the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception method of the first invention isthat the optical code division multiplexing signal generation sectioncomprises a wavelength disperser that performs wavelength dispersion ofthe encoded optical pulse signal. A further characteristic is that theoptical code division multiplexing signal extraction section comprisesan inverse wavelength disperser that performs wavelength dispersion inwhich absolute values are equal and positive and negatives codes arereversed with respect to the dispersion values of the abovementionedwavelength disperser. Here, the time waveform shaping step is performedby the wavelength disperser and the time waveform restoration step isperformed by the inverse wavelength disperser.

The optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method ofthe second invention comprises a transmission step that comprises inparallel an optical code division multiplexing signal generation stepand an optical time division multiplexing signal generation step, and areception step that comprises in parallel an optical code divisionmultiplexing signal extraction step and an optical time divisionmultiplexing signal extraction step.

The optical code division multiplexing signal generation step comprisesan encoding step and a time waveform shaping step. The encoding step isa step that generates an encoded optical pulse signal by encoding theoptical pulse signal by using time-spreading/wavelength-hopping codethat is different for each channel. The time waveform shaping step is astep that generates a shaped and encoded optical pulse signal by shapingthe time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signal.

The optical time division multiplexing signal generation step is a stepthat generates an optical time division multiplexing signal byallocating a time slot that is different for each channel.

The transmission step further comprises a multiplexing step thatgenerates an optical division multiplexing signal by multiplexing theshaped and encoded optical pulse signal and the optical time divisionmultiplexing signal.

The reception step comprises a branching step that divides the opticaldivision multiplexing signal into an optical code division multiplexingreception signal and an optical time division multiplexing receptionsignal.

The optical code division multiplexing signal extraction step isconstituted comprising a decoding step, a time waveform restoration stepand a first threshold value judgment step. The decoding step is a stepthat generates a decoded optical code division multiplexing receptionsignal by decoding the optical code division multiplexing receptionsignal by using the same code as the time-spreading/wavelength-hoppingcode for each channel. The time waveform restoration step is a step thatgenerates a reproduced optical pulse signal by restoring the shapedoptical pulse signal component contained in the decoded optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal. The first threshold valuejudgment step is a step that extracts only the autocorrelation waveformcomponent of the optical pulse signal from the reproduced optical pulsesignal.

The optical time division multiplexing signal extraction step isconstituted comprising a time gate step that divides the optical timedivision signal for each channel with respect to the optical timedivision multiplexing reception signal and a second threshold valuejudgment step that extracts the optical time division multiplexingsignal by performing a threshold value judgment on the optical timedivision signal.

Further, a characteristic of the second invention is that the opticalcode division multiplexing signal generation step comprises a timewaveform shaping step that generates a shaped and encoded optical pulsesignal by shaping the time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signal.A further characteristic is that the optical code division multiplexingsignal extraction step comprises a time waveform restoration step thatgenerates a reproduced optical pulse signal by restoring the shapedoptical pulse signal component contained in the decoded optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal.

The optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method ofthe second invention is implemented by the following optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device. That is, the opticaldivision multiplexing transmission and reception device that implementsthe optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method ofthe second invention comprises a transmission section that comprises inparallel an optical code division multiplexing signal generation sectionand an optical time division multiplexing signal generation section, anda reception section that comprises in parallel an optical code divisionmultiplexing signal extraction section and an optical time divisionmultiplexing signal extraction section.

The optical code division multiplexing signal generation step isexecuted by the optical code division multiplexing signal generationsection. The optical code division multiplexing signal generationsection comprises an encoder and wavelength de-multiplexer. The encodergenerates an encoded optical pulse signal by encoding the optical pulsesignal of each channel by allocating differenttime-spreading/wavelength-hopping code for each channel. Further, thewavelength de-multiplexer generates a shaped and encoded optical pulsesignal by shaping the time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signal.

The optical time division multiplexing signal generation step isexecuted by the optical time division multiplexing signal generationsection. The optical time division multiplexing signal generationsection generates an optical time division multiplexing signal byallocating a different time slot to each channel.

The transmission section comprises a multiplexer that generates anoptical division multiplexing signal by multiplexing the shaped andencoded optical pulse signal and the optical time division multiplexingsignal.

The reception section comprises a de-multiplexer that divides thereceived optical division multiplexing signal into an optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal and an optical time divisionmultiplexing reception signal.

The optical code division multiplexing signal extraction step isexecuted by the optical code division multiplexing signal extractionsection. The optical code division multiplexing signal extractionsection comprises a decoder, an inverse wavelength disperser and a firstthreshold value judgment section. The decoder decodes the optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal by using the same code as thetime-spreading/wavelength-hopping code used during encoding for eachchannel and generates a decoded optical code division multiplexingreception signal. The inverse wavelength disperser performs wavelengthdispersion in which absolute values are equal and codes are reversedwith respect to the dispersion values of the abovementioned wavelengthdisperser. That is, a reproduced optical pulse signal is generated byrestoring the shaped optical pulse signal component contained in thedecoded optical code division multiplexing reception signal. The firstthreshold value judgment section extracts only the autocorrelationwaveform component of the optical pulse signal from the reproducedoptical pulse signal.

The optical time division multiplexing signal extraction step comprisesan optical time division signal separation section that separates theoptical time division signal for each channel with respect to theoptical time division multiplexing reception signal and a secondthreshold value judgment section that extracts an optical time divisionmultiplexing signal by performing a threshold value judgment on theoptical time division signal.

Further, the characteristic of the optical division multiplexingtransmission and reception device that implements the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception method of the second inventionis that the optical code division multiplexing signal generation sectioncomprises a wavelength disperser that performs wavelength dispersion ofthe encoded optical pulse signal. A further characteristic is that theoptical code division multiplexing signal extraction section comprisesan inverse wavelength disperser that performs wavelength dispersion inwhich absolute values are equal and positive and negative codes arereversed with respect to the dispersion values of the abovementionedwavelength disperser. Here, the time waveform shaping step is performedby the wavelength disperser and the time waveform restoration step isperformed by the inverse wavelength disperser.

Further, the encoder and decoder of the optical division multiplexingtransmission and reception device of the first and second inventions arepreferably constituted comprising a Fiber Bragg grating.

Furthermore, the first and second threshold value judgment sections ofthe optical division multiplexing transmission and reception device ofthe first and second inventions are preferably constituted comprising anonlinear fiber loop.

Further, the first and second threshold value judgment sections of theoptical division multiplexing transmission and reception device of thefirst and second inventions are preferably constituted comprising alight saturable absorber.

According to the optical division multiplexing transmission andreception method of the first invention, the shaped and encoded opticalpulse signal and optical wavelength division multiplexing signal aregenerated in the transmission step and an optical division multiplexingsignal is generated as a result of the shaped and encoded optical pulsesignal and optical wavelength division multiplexing signal being mixedby the multiplexing step. The optical division multiplexing signal isseparated into the optical code division multiplexing reception signaland optical wavelength division multiplexing reception signal by thebranching step that the reception step comprises.

An autocorrelation waveform component that corresponds with the opticalpulse signal rendered by playing back the optical pulse signal that hasbeen sent encoded for each channel is extracted from the optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal and an optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing signal is extracted for each channel from theoptical wavelength division multiplexing reception signal.

The abovementioned optical division multiplexing signal comprises ashaped and encoded optical pulse signal and an optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing signal and the optical code division multiplexingreception signal and optical wavelength division multiplexing receptionsignal obtained through division of the optical division multiplexingsignal both comprise the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal andoptical wavelength division multiplexing signal.

Therefore, in order to extract the autocorrelation waveform componentfrom the optical code division multiplexing reception signal, theoptical wavelength division multiplexing signal component contained inthe optical code division multiplexing reception signal must be removed.Further, in order to extract the optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal from the optical wavelength division multiplexingreception signal, the optical code division multiplexing receptionsignal component must be removed. Hereinafter, the optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing reception signal component is also called theoptical pulse signal originating in the WDM channel and the optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal is also called the optical pulsesignal originating in the OCDM channel.

On the other hand, with the optical division multiplexing transmissionand reception method of the second invention, a shaped and encodedoptical pulse signal and an optical time division multiplexing signalare generated in the transmission step and an optical divisionmultiplexing signal is generated as a result of the shaped and encodedoptical pulse signal and optical time division multiplexing signal beingmixed by the multiplexing step. The optical division multiplexing signalis divided into an optical code division multiplexing reception signaland an optical time division multiplexing reception signal by thebranching step that the reception step comprises.

An autocorrelation waveform component that corresponds with the opticalpulse signal rendered by playing back the optical pulse signal that hasbeen sent encoded for each channel is extracted from the optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal and an optical time divisionmultiplexing signal is extracted for each channel from the optical timedivision multiplexing reception signal.

The abovementioned optical division multiplexing signal comprises ashaped and encoded optical pulse signal and an optical time divisionmultiplexing signal and the optical code division multiplexing receptionsignal and optical time division multiplexing reception signal obtainedthrough division of the optical division multiplexing signal bothcomprise the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal and optical timedivision multiplexing signal.

Therefore, in order to extract the autocorrelation waveform componentfrom the optical code division multiplexing reception signal, theoptical time division multiplexing signal component contained in theoptical code division multiplexing reception signal must be removed.Further, in order to extract the optical time division multiplexingsignal from the optical time division multiplexing reception signal, theoptical pulse signal originating in the OCDM channel must be removed.Hereinafter, the optical time division multiplexing reception signalcomponent is also called the OTDM channel.

The characteristic of the optical division multiplexing transmission andreception method of the first and second inventions is that the opticalcode division multiplexing signal generation step included in thetransmission step includes a time waveform shaping step that generates ashaped and encoded optical pulse signal by shaping the time waveform ofthe encoded optical pulse signal. A further characteristic is that theoptical code division multiplexing signal extraction step included inthe reception step comprises a time waveform restoration step thatgenerates a restored encoded optical pulse signal that is similar to theencoded optical pulse signal waveform by restoring the waveform of theshaped and encoded optical pulse signal.

Hence, the encoded optical pulse signal is transmitted after the timewaveform has been shaped by the time waveform shaping step. In thereception step, the encoded optical pulse signal that has been shapedand transmitted is generated as a restored encoded optical pulse signalthat is similar to the encoded optical pulse signal waveform as a resultof being restored by the time waveform restoration step.

However, in the optical division multiplexing transmission and receptionmethod of the first invention, a time waveform shaping step is notincluded in the optical wavelength division multiplexing signalgeneration step. As a result, in the reception step, the time waveformof the optical wavelength division multiplexing signal componentcontained in the optical wavelength division multiplexing receptionsignal is not shaped. The time waveform of the optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing signal component is shaped by the inversewavelength disperser used in the time waveform restoration step of theoptical code division multiplexing signal extraction step.

That is, the optical pulse signal originating in the WDM channel doesnot undergo the time waveform shaping step during transmission and,therefore, the optical pulse signal originating in the WDM channelcontained in the optical wavelength division multiplexing receptionsignal does not undergo time waveform shaping. The optical pulse signaloriginating in the WDM channel undergoes time waveform shaping at thisstage because the time waveform restoration step is executed even whenthe optical pulse signal does not undergo time waveform shaping. On theother hand, the encoded optical pulse signal is transmitted after thetime waveform has been shaped and the shaped time waveform is restoredduring reception.

As described hereinabove, in the reception step, even when an opticalpulse signal originating in the WDM channel generated in the opticalwavelength division multiplexing signal generation step is mixed in withthe encoded optical pulse signal that is transmitted after being shaped,because the time waveform of the optical pulse signal originating in theWDM channel undergoes shaping by the inverse wavelength disperser thatis used in the time waveform restoration step, the optical pulse signalis expanded over the time axis. As a result, the peak value of theoptical pulse signal originating in the WDM channel drops and can beremoved by the first threshold value judgment step.

Likewise, in the optical division multiplexing transmission andreception method of the second invention, a time waveform shaping stepis not included in the optical time division multiplexing signalgeneration step. As a result, in the reception step, the time waveformof the optical pulse signal originating in the OTDM channel contained inthe optical code division multiplexing reception signal is not shaped.The time waveform of the optical pulse signal originating in the OTDMchannel is shaped by the inverse wavelength disperser that is used inthe time waveform restoration step of the optical code division multiplesignal extraction step.

That is, the optical pulse signal originating in the OTDM channel doesnot undergo the time waveform shaping step during transmission and,therefore, the optical pulse signal originating in the OTDM channelcontained in the received optical code division multiplexing receptionsignal does not undergo time waveform shaping. The optical pulse signaloriginating in the OTDM channel undergoes time waveform shaping at thisstage because the time waveform restoration step is executed even whenthe optical pulse signal does not undergo time waveform shaping. On theother hand, the encoded optical pulse signal is transmitted after thetime waveform has been shaped and the shaped time waveform is restoredduring reception.

As described hereinabove, in the reception step, even when the opticalpulse signal originating in the OTDM channel generated in the opticaltime division multiplexing signal generation step is mixed in with theencoded optical pulse signal that has been shaped and transmitted, thetime waveform of the optical pulse signal originating in the OTDMchannel undergoes shaping by the inverse wavelength disperser that isused in the time waveform restoration step and the optical pulse signalis expanded over the time axis. As a result, the peak value of theoptical pulse signal originating in the OTDM channel drops and can beremoved by the first threshold value judgment step.

Therefore, it can be seen that, according to the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception method of the first invention,OCDM communication and WDM communication can be implemented in parallel.Further, it can be seen that, according to the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception method of the second invention,OCDM communication and OTDM communication can be implemented inparallel. Based on this fact, an optical multiplexing transmission andreception device to which an OCDM channel has been added and an opticalmultiplexing transmission and reception method can be implementedwithout changing the usage wavelength bandwidth of the existing WDMchannel. Further, an optical multiplexing transmission and receptiondevice to which an OCDM channel has been added and an opticalmultiplexing transmission and reception method can be implementedwithout changing the time slot allocated to the existing OTDM channel.

Furthermore, if the encoder and decoder of the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device of the first and secondinventions are constituted comprising a Fiber Bragg grating, thetransmission lines of the optical division multiplexing transmission andreception device are constituted by optical fiber and, therefore, aFiber Bragg grating formed by using optical fiber has a form that isuseful for connection. That is, an optical circulator, as will bedescribed subsequently, is used to form the encoder and decoder, and,therefore, a Fiber Bragg grating is very useful for the connection withthe optical circulator.

Furthermore, if the first and second threshold value judgment sectionsof the optical division multiplexing transmission and reception deviceof the first and second invention are constituted comprising a nonlinearfiber loop, the threshold value judgment is performed by using thenonlinear optical effect and, therefore, the threshold value judgmentoperation is executed at a remarkably high speed in comparison with athreshold value judgment operation using an electrical procedure. Inparticular, when the communication speed increases, the merit ofperforming the threshold value judgment by using a nonlinear opticaleffect rather than an electrical procedure is large.

Further, the first and second threshold value judgment sections of theoptical division multiplexing transmission and reception device of thefirst and second inventions is preferably constituted comprising a lightsaturable absorber. It is confirmed that the threshold value judgmentsection that uses a light saturable absorber possesses resistance tolight destruction and mechanical destruction as well as water resistanceand has a very long lifespan. Therefore, the threshold value judgmentsection that uses a light saturable absorber is preferably used in theoptical multiplexing transmission and reception device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be better understood from the following description takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block constitutional view of the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device;

FIG. 2 serves to illustrate the bandwidth that is allocated to thechannels in WDM and OTDM;

FIG. 3 serves to illustrate the operating principles of time spreadingwavelength hopping OCDM;

FIG. 4 serves to illustrate the optical encoder;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block constitutional view of the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device of the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 serves to illustrate the wavelength dispersion and inversewavelength dispersion with respect to an optical pulse;

FIG. 7 shows a time waveform of an optical pulse signal outputted froman intensity modulator;

FIG. 8 shows a time waveform of an encoded optical pulse signal and aWDM-channel optical pulse signal;

FIG. 9 shows a time waveform of an optical division multiplexing signal;

FIG. 10 shows a time waveform of an optical wavelength division signaland a decoded OCDM reception signal;

FIG. 11 is a schematic block constitutional view of the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device of the second embodiment;

FIG. 12 shows a time waveform of an optical pulse signal that isoutputted by an intensity modulator;

FIG. 13 shows a time waveform of an encoded optical pulse signal and anOTDM-channel optical pulse signal;

FIG. 14 shows a time waveform of an optical division multiplexingsignal;

FIG. 15 shows a time waveform (one) of an optical time divisionmultiplexing reception signal;

FIG. 16 shows a time waveform (two) of an optical time divisionmultiplexing reception signal;

FIG. 17 shows a time waveform (one) of a decoded optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal; and

FIG. 18 shows a time waveform (two) of a decoded optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinbelow withreference to the drawings. Further, each of the drawings shows aconstitutional example of the present invention. The cross-sectionalshape and dispositional relationship and so forth of each of theconstituent elements are only schematically shown to the extent ofallowing an understanding of the invention and the present invention isnot limited to or by the illustrated examples. Further, althoughspecified materials and conditions and so forth are employed in thefollowing description, these materials and conditions are only one ofthe preferred examples and, therefore, the present invention is notlimited to such materials and conditions in any. Further, the sameconstituent elements in the drawings are shown with the same numbersassigned thereto, whereby repetition in the description is avoided.

In the drawings shown hereinbelow, the paths of the optical pulse signalsuch as optical fibers or the like are shown with bold lines and thepaths of electrical signals are shown with thin lines. Further, thenumbers appended to the bold lines and thin lines indicate not only thepaths but also sometimes signify optical pulse signals or electricalsignals that are propagated by the respective paths.

First Embodiment

An optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method ofthe first embodiment and a device for implementing the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception method will be described withreference to FIG. 5. The optical division multiplexing transmission andreception device comprises a transmission section 500 that comprises inparallel an optical code division multiplexing signal generation section510 and an optical wavelength division multiplexing signal generationsection 530 and a reception section 600 that comprises in parallel anoptical code division multiplexing signal extraction section 610 and anoptical wavelength division multiplexing signal extraction section 630.

In the following description, the optical code division multiplexingsignal generation section is abbreviated to the OCDM signal generationsection, the optical wavelength division multiplexing signal generationsection is abbreviated to the WDM signal generation section, the opticalcode division multiplexing signal extraction section is abbreviated tothe OCDM signal extraction section, and the optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal extraction section is abbreviated to the WDM signalextraction section.

The optical code division multiplexing signal generation step isexecuted by an OCDM signal generation section 510. That is, the OCDMsignal generation section 510 first executes an encoding step thatgenerates an encoded optical pulse signal by encoding an optical pulsesignal by using different time-spreading/wavelength-hopping code foreach channel. Thereafter, a time waveform shaping step that generates ashaped and encoded optical pulse signal by shaping the time waveform ofthe encoded optical pulse signal is executed.

Further, the optical wavelength division multiplexing signal generationstep is implemented by the WDM signal generation section 530. The WDMsignal generation section 530 generates an optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal by allocating a different wavelength to eachchannel.

The OCDM signal generation section 510 that executes the optical codedivision multiplexing signal generation step and the WDM signalgeneration section 530 that executes the optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal generation step are provided in parallel as shown inFIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, only one channel's worth of each of the OCDM signalgeneration section 510 and the WDM signal generation section 530 isshown and the other channels are omitted. That is, generally, OCDMsignal generation sections 510 are disposed in parallel in a quantitycorresponding to the number of OCDM channels and WDM signal generationsections 530 are disposed in parallel in a quantity corresponding to thenumber of WDM channels. The OCDM signal generation sections 510 that aredisposed in parallel in a quantity corresponding to the number of OCDMchannels only have different codes set for the encoder, the otherconstituent elements being the same. However, the wavelength dispersioncharacteristic of a wavelength disperser 516 may be the same for eachchannel or different for each channel. Further, the WDM signalgeneration sections 530 that are disposed in parallel in a quantitycorresponding to the number of WDM channels are constituted by the sameconstituent elements for each channel.

The following description sometimes illustrates two OCDM channels andfour WDM channels for the sake of expediency. However, it is understoodthat the following description is valid irrespective of the channelnumbers.

The transmission section 500 further comprises a multiplexer 540 thatgenerates an optical division multiplexing signal by multiplexing theshaped and encoded optical pulse signal and the optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing signal. On the other hand, the reception section600 comprises a de-multiplexer 605 that divides the received opticaldivision multiplexing signal into an optical code division multiplexingreception signal and an optical wavelength division multiplexingreception signal.

The optical code division multiplexing signal extraction step isexecuted by an OCDM signal extraction section 610. A decoder 612 of theOCDM signal extraction section 610 decodes the optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal by using the same code as thetime-spreading/wavelength-hopping code for each channel, and generates adecoded optical code division multiplexing reception signal. The shapedoptical pulse signal component contained in the decoded optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal is decoded by an inversewavelength disperser 614 to generate a reproduced optical pulse signal.Only the autocorrelation waveform component of the optical pulse signalconstituting the transmission signal is extracted from the reproducedoptical pulse signal by a first threshold value judgment section 618.

The wavelength disperser 516 that the OCDM signal generation section 510comprises and the inverse wavelength disperser 614 that the OCDM signalextraction section 610 comprises have dispersion values for which theabsolute values are equal and the positive and negative codes arereversed. That is, the time waveform shaping step is performed by thewavelength disperser 516 and the time waveform restoration step isperformed by the inverse wavelength disperser 614. Further, the OCDMsignal extraction section 610 comprises the first threshold valuejudgment section 618 for extracting only the autocorrelation waveformcomponent from the reproduced optical pulse signal.

The optical wavelength division multiplexing signal extraction step isexecuted by the WDM signal extraction section 630. The WDM signalextraction section 630 extracts an optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal for each channel from the optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing reception signal by means of a second thresholdvalue judgment section 634 that the WDM signal extraction sectioncomprises.

The constitution of the OCDM channel and WDM channel will be describedin detail with reference to FIG. 5. First, the constitution of the OCDMsignal generation section 510 of the OCDM channel of the transmissionsection 500 will be described. The OCDM signal generation section 510has a plurality of OCDM channels installed in parallel. Of thesechannels, the first OCDM channel will be described representatively.Because the other OCDM channels also have the same structure, adescription of the other OCDM channels is omitted here.

The OCDM signal generation section 510 is constituted comprising anintensity modulator 512, an encoder 514, a wavelength disperser 516, anda power regulator 520. The difference for each channel is the code thatis set for the encoder. Because each channel is identified by thedifference in the codes, OCDM is an optical multiplexing transmissionand reception method in which the codes serve as identifiers.

First, an optical pulse array 509 is inputted to the intensity modulator512, which is a constituent element of the OCDM signal generationsection 510. As will be described subsequently, the optical pulsesconstituting the optical pulse array 509 contain light of thewavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄. When the optical pulses contain light ofthe wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄, this signifies a state where opticalpulses whose center wavelengths are λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄ respectivelyexist stacked on the same time axis.

The intensity modulator 512 has a function for converting a binarydigital electrical signal, which is transmission information on thefirst OCDM channel, into an RZ-formatted optical pulse signal. An EAmodulator, for example, can be used as the intensity modulator 512. Theoptical pulse array 509 that is inputted to the intensity modulator 512is outputted as an optical pulse signal 513 that reflects thetransmission information of the first OCDM channel.

Hereinafter, the expression ‘optical pulse signal’ will be used only incases where an array of optical pulses that reflect a binary digitalelectrical signal that is obtained by subjecting an optical pulse arrayto optical modulation and converting an electrical pulse signal into anoptical pulse signal is intended. On the other hand, the expression‘optical pulse array’ is used to indicate a whole body of optical pulsesthat are in a row at regular fixed intervals (time slots) on the timeaxis.

The optical pulse signal 513 is inputted to the encoder 514 andoutputted as an encoded optical pulse signal 515 after undergoingtime-spreading/wavelength-hopping encoding. That is, the encoding stepis implemented by the encoder 514. Code for identifying the first OCDMchannel is set for the encoder 514 and this code is the same as the codethat is set for the decoder 612 of the reception section 600 (describedsubsequently). The time spreading wavelength hopping encoding hasalready been described and, therefore, the same description will not berepeated.

The abovementioned FBG is used as the encoder or decoder. Morespecifically, the optical encoder described with reference to FIG. 4 canbe used as an encoder or decoder. Further, in addition to the FBG, anelement with a transversal-type filter constitution or the like can alsobe used as the encoder or decoder. However, in the followingdescription, the description is made on the premise of an encoder and adecoder that are constituted by using a FBG. In both cases, when anoptical encoder constituted by using an optical circulator as shown inFIG. 4 is used as the encoder or decoder as mentioned earlier, an FBGthat permits a straightforward connection with the optical circulator isvery useful.

The encoded optical pulse signal 515 is inputted to the wavelengthdisperser 516, whereupon the time waveform of the encoded optical pulsesignal 515 is shaped such that same is outputted as a shaped and encodedoptical pulse signal 517. That is, a time waveform shaping step isexecuted by the wavelength disperser 516. A commercial wavelengthdispersion device such as dispersion-compensating optical fiber or aFiber Bragg grating with a chirped refractive index cycle structure canbe used as the wavelength disperser.

Here, the wavelength dispersion and inverse wavelength dispersion of theoptical pulses constituting the optical pulse signal will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 6A to 6C. The upper row of FIGS. 6A to 6C showswaveforms with respect to the time axis of the optical pulses and thelower row of FIGS. 6A to 6C shows waveforms with respect to thewavelength axis of the optical pulses. That is, the lower row shows thewavelength spectral of the optical pulses. For each of FIGS. 6A to 6C,the waveforms shown by solid lines represent the intensity of the O/Efield spectral and the broken lines show the envelope of the intensitywaveform of the O/E field spectral with respect to the time axis.

FIG. 6A shows the optical pulses before same are inputted to thewavelength disperser. FIG. 6B shows the optical pulses after passingthrough a wavelength disperser with a normal dispersing characteristic.Although the intensity and half value width of the wavelength spectrumhave not changed, the half value width of the time waveform is widened.Here, the half value width of the time waveform is called the half valuewidth of the envelope of the intensity waveform of the O/E fieldspectral with respect to the time axis. The half value widths withrespect to the shape of the upper half and lower half of the envelope ofthe intensity waveform of the O/E field spectral with respect to thetime axis are equal and, therefore, the half value width is called thehalf value width of the time waveform.

The reason for the expansion in the half value width of the timewaveform is that, when the optical pulses pass through the middle of awavelength dispersing medium with a normal dispersing characteristicthat constitutes a wavelength disperser, the larger the long wavelengthcomponent of the light constituting the optical pulses, the greater thepropagation speed. That is, this is because the optical pulses spreadout on the time axis as a result of the advance of the phase as thewavelength component of the light grows longer while the optical pulsesare passing through the wavelength dispersion medium that constitutesthe wavelength disperser. Here, the wavelength dispersion medium isknown as the core of the dispersion-compensating optical fiber or thecore where the Fiber Bragg grating with the chirped refractive indexcycle structure is formed, or the like, the core being used as thewavelength disperser, for example.

FIG. 6C shows optical pulses after passing through a wavelengthdisperser with an abnormal dispersion characteristic. In this case also,the half value width of the time waveform of the optical pulses iswidened as per the optical pulses shown in FIG. 6B. This is because,contrary to FIG. 6B, when the optical pulses pass through the middle ofa wavelength dispersion medium with an abnormal dispersioncharacteristic, the phase speed increases as the wavelength component ofthe light constituting the optical pulses grows shorter.

Here, the phenomenon whereby the phase speed increases with increasedwavelength is known as normal dispersion and the phenomenon whereby thephase speed drops with increased wavelength is known as abnormaldispersion. Further, a difference in phase speed between light having aunit-wavelength difference is known as the dispersion value of themedium. Further, the dispersion value of normal dispersion represents apositive value while the dispersion value of abnormal dispersionrepresents a negative value.

The characteristic of the optical division multiplexing transmission andreception method and the device that implements this method of thepresent invention is as follows. That is, the characteristic is that ashaped and encoded optical pulse signal is generated by shaping the timewaveform of the encoded optical pulse signal in the time waveformshaping step that is executed by the wavelength disperser 516 and arestored encoded optical pulse signal similar to the encoded opticalpulse signal waveform is generated by restoring the shaped and encodedoptical pulse signal in the time waveform restoration step that isexecuted by the inverse wavelength disperser 614. Therefore, theabsolute values of the dispersion value of the wavelength disperser 516and the inverse wavelength disperser 614 must be equal and the codesmust be reversed.

Furthermore, the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal 517 is inputtedto the power regulator 520, and the power of the shaped and encodedoptical pulse signal 517 is regulated and outputted as a shaped andencoded optical pulse signal 521. The power regulator 520 is installedto make uniform the intensity of the shaped and encoded optical pulsesignal of each OCDM channel. When the intensity of the shaped andencoded optical pulse signal differs greatly between each OCDM channel,there is the possibility that the mutual correlation waveform componentcontained in the decoded optical pulse signal decoded by the decoder ofthe reception section 600 will be the same as or greater than theautocorrelation waveform component. When this occurs, there is thepossibility that the first threshold value judgment section will not beable to extract only the autocorrelation waveform component.

As described hereinabove, the characteristic of the present invention isthat the transmission step comprises an optical code divisionmultiplexing signal generation step that is executed by the encoder 514and a time waveform shaping step that is executed by the wavelengthdisperser 516.

The constitution of the WDM signal generation section 530 of the WDMchannel of the transmission section 500 will be described next withreference to FIG. 5. The WDM signal generation section 530 has aplurality of WDM channels installed in parallel. Here also, the firstWDM channel is described representatively at the same time as describingthe constitution of the OCDM signal generation section 510 mentionedabove. Because other WDM channels also have the same structure, adescription thereof is omitted.

The WDM signal generation section 530 is constituted comprising awavelength de-multiplexer 532, an intensity modulator 534, and a powerregulator 538. First, an optical pulse array 529 is inputted to thewavelength de-multiplexer 532 that is a constituent element of the WDMsignal generation section 530. Here also, the optical pulse array 529contains light of wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄ as per the case of theOCDM channel. Optical pulses of different wavelengths for each WDMchannel are distributed by the wavelength de-multiplexer 532. Forexample, an optical pulse 531 of wavelength λ₁ is allocated to the firstWDM channel. That is, because each WDM channel is identified by thedifference in wavelength, WDM is an optical multiplexing transmissionand reception method in which the codes serves as identifiers. An AWG orthe like, for example, can be used as the wavelength de-multiplexer 532and the subsequently described wavelength de-multiplexer 632.

The intensity modulator 534 has a function for converting a binarydigital electrical signal, which is transmission information on thefirst WDM channel, into an RZ-formatted optical pulse signal. Theintensity modulator 534 is the same as the intensity modulator 512 ofthe first OCDM channel and the same description will not be repeatedhere. The optical pulse 531 that is inputted to the intensity modulator534 is outputted as an optical pulse signal 535 that reflects thetransmission information of the first WDM channel. The wavelength of theoptical pulse signal 535 is λ₁.

The optical pulse signal 535 is inputted to the power regulator 538 andthe power of the optical pulse signal 535 is regulated and outputted asan optical pulse signal 539. The power regulator 538 is also installedwith the same objective as the power regulator 520 provided in the OCDMsignal generation section 510.

As mentioned hereinabove, the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal ofthe respective OCDM channels and the optical pulse signal of therespective WDM channels are mixed by the multiplexer 540 to form anoptical division multiplexing signal 541, which is propagated by atransmission line 550 that is constituted by optical fiber before beingsent to the reception section 600. Here, the shaped and encoded opticalpulse signal of the respective OCDM channels signifies two channels'worth including the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal 521 of thefirst OCDM channel and is a shaped and encoded optical pulse signal thatis generated by multiplexing the shaped and encoded optical pulsesignals of the first and second OCDM channels. Further, the opticalpulse signal of the respective WDM channels signifies four channels'worth including the optical pulse signal 539 of the first WDM channeland is an optical wavelength division multiplexing signal that isgenerated by multiplexing the optical pulse signals of the first tofourth WDM channels. That is, the multiplexing step is executed by themultiplexer 540.

The constitution and function of the reception section 600 will bedescribed next. The reception section 600 comprises the de-multiplexer605, the OCDM signal extraction section 610 and the WDM signalextraction section 630 and the OCDM signal extraction section 610 andWDM signal extraction section 630 are constituted in parallel. First,the constitution of the OCDM signal extraction section 610 of the OCDMchannel will be described. The OCDM signal extraction section 610 has aplurality of OCDM channels installed in parallel. Here also, the firstOCDM channel is described representatively as per the description of theOCDM signal generation section 510.

The OCDM signal extraction section 610 is constituted comprising thedecoder 612, inverse wavelength disperser 614, the first threshold valuejudgment section 618, and the receiver 620. The difference for eachchannel is the code that is set for the decoder. Equal code for each ofthe corresponding channel in each case is set for the encoder that isinstalled in each channel of the transmission section 500 and for thedecoder that is installed in each channel of the reception section 600.

The optical division multiplexing signal 541 is inputted to thede-multiplexer 605 and divided into an optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal (hereinafter also abbreviated as ‘OCDMreception signal’) and an optical wavelength division multiplexingreception signal (hereinafter also abbreviated as ‘WDM receptionsignal’). The optical division multiplexing signal 541 is a signal thatis generated as a result of the shaped and encoded optical pulse signalof each OCDM channel and the optical wavelength division multiplexingsignal of each WDM channel being mixed by means of the multiplexer 540and, therefore, both the OCDM reception signal and also the WDMreception signal that are obtained as a result of intensity-dividing theoptical division multiplexing signal 541 by means of the de-multiplexer605 are signals that equally contain the shaped and encoded opticalpulse signal of each OCDM channel and the optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal of each WDM channel.

An OCDM reception signal 606 that is allocated to the first OCDM channelamong the OCDM reception signals that are supplied to the OCDM signalextraction section 610 is inputted to the decoder 612 and outputteddecoded as a decoded optical code division multiplexing reception signal(hereinafter also abbreviated as ‘decoded OCDM reception signal’) 613.The decoded OCDM reception signal 613 is inputted to the inversewavelength disperser 614 and the shaped and encoded optical pulse signalcomponent contained in the decoded OCDM reception signal 613 is restoredand outputted as a reproduced optical pulse signal 615. That is, a timewaveform restoration step is executed by the inverse wavelengthdisperser 614.

Here, although components other than the shaped and encoded opticalpulse signal component are also contained in the decoded OCDM receptionsignal 613, components other than the shaped and encoded optical pulsesignal component are processed as noise in the subsequent steps of thefirst OCDM channel. Therefore, the effective signal outputted from theinverse wavelength disperser 614 is the reproduced optical pulse signal615. A detailed description of the decoded OCDM reception signal 613 andthe shaped and encoded optical pulse signal component and so forth willbe provided subsequently.

The reproduced optical pulse signal 615 is inputted to the firstthreshold value judgment section 618 and, as a result of the firstthreshold value judgment step being executed, only the autocorrelationwaveform component 619 of the optical pulse signal 513 that reflectstransmission information on the first OCDM channel is outputted. Theautocorrelation waveform component 619 is inputted to the receiver 620and the autocorrelation waveform component 619 constituting an opticalpulse signal is converted (O/E converted) to an electrical pulse signaland acquired by the reception section 600 as reception information onthe first OCDM channel. That is, the transmission information on thefirst OCDM channel transmission that is transmitted from thetransmission section 500 is received by the reception section 600 asreception information on the first OCDM channel.

Meanwhile, the WDM reception signal 631 supplied to the WDM signalextraction section 630 will be described. Here also, the first WDMchannel will be described representatively similarly to the descriptionof the WDM signal generation section 530. The WDM reception signal 631that is supplied to the WDM signal extraction section 630 is inputted tothe wavelength de-multiplexer 632 and undergoes wavelength division asoptical signals of wavelengths that correspond with each WDM channelthat are supplied to the second threshold value judgment section 634 ofeach channel. The optical wavelength division signal 633 of wavelengthλ₁ that is supplied to the second threshold value judgment section 634of the first WDM channel is received as reception information on thefirst WDM channel as a result of the second threshold value judgmentstep being executed and the WDM signal 635 of the first WDM channelbeing extracted, inputted to the receiver 636 and converted to anelectrical pulse signal (O/E converted). That is, the transmissioninformation on the first WDM channel transmitted from the transmissionsection 500 is received by the reception section 600 as receptioninformation on the first WDM channel.

Here also, as per the OCDM channel case, the optical wavelength divisionsignal 633 of wavelength λ₁ that is supplied to the second thresholdvalue judgment section 634 also contains a shaped and encoded opticalpulse signal component of the OCDM channel. However, the OCDM-channelshaped and encoded optical pulse signal component is processed as noisein subsequent steps of the first WDM channel. A detailed description ofthe OCDM-channel shaped and encoded optical pulse signal component andso forth will also be provided subsequently.

The optical-signal transmission form of the optical divisionmultiplexing transceiver of the first embodiment will now be describedwith reference to FIGS. 7 to 10. Here, the optical-signal transmissionform will be described with the optical division multiplexingtransceiver described with reference to FIG. 5 serving as a model. FIGS.7 to 10 illustrate the time waveforms of four channels' worth of opticalpulse signals of the WDM channel and two channels' worth of opticalpulse signals of the OCDM channel and the horizontal axis represents thetime axis. The first to fourth channels of the WDM channel (first WDMchannel to the fourth WDM channel) are shown as channel W1 to channel W4respectively and the first and second channels of the OCDM channel(first OCDM channel and second OCDM channel) are shown as channel C1 andchannel C2 respectively.

Furthermore, the gaps between the parallel broken lines in the verticaldirection in FIGS. 8 to 10 illustrate the time slots. That is, oneoptical pulse or chip pulse is allocated to the gaps between the brokenlines. Here, four WDM channels are described and two OCDM channels aredescribed but the number of channels is not restricted to thesequantities and the following description is similarly valid even with afew channels.

In FIGS. 7 to 10, as per FIGS. 3B to 3E, the optical pulses constitutingthe OCDM-channel optical pulse signals are constituted containing thewavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄ and the respective channels of theWDM-channel optical pulse signals are constituted by means of singlewavelengths of the wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄. In order toillustrate this, rectangles that surround the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4identifying the wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄ are expediently shownstacked on the same time. Here, the optical pulse signals constitutedfrom optical pulses containing wavelengths of four different types areassumed and described. However, generally, the types of wavelengthscontained in the optical pulses are not restricted to four types and thefollowing description is similarly valid even when there are a fewtypes.

Furthermore, as per FIGS. 3B to 3E, optical pulses containing differentwavelength components are shown by stacking rectangles that surroundidentification numbers representing the wavelengths of the wavelengthcomponents of the optical pulses on the same time. Further, in FIGS. 7to 10, one optical pulse is drawn occupying the same time slot, for theoptical pulses of the WDM channel and the optical pulse signals of eachchannel of the OCDM channel.

In reality, an array of optical pulses that reflect a binary digitalelectrical signal obtained as a result of an optical pulse arrayundergoing optical modulation and an electrical pulse signal beingconverted to an optical pulse signal is an optical pulse signal.However, if the transmission form of a single optical pulse is judged,the same transmission form is adopted for all the optical pulsesconstituting the optical pulse signal and, therefore, in order todescribe the transmission form of the optical pulse signal, it issufficient to describe a case where one optical pulse occupies the sametime slot. In the subsequent description with reference to FIGS. 7 to10, this one optical pulse will also be called an optical pulse signal.

FIG. 7 shows an optical pulse signal that is outputted from anOCDM-channel intensity modulator (intensity modulator 512 for channelC1) and a WDM-channel intensity modulator (intensity modulator 534 forchannel W1) of the transmission section 500 shown in FIG. 5. Forexample, the optical pulse signal of channel C1 is optical pulse signal513 and the optical pulse signal of channel W1 is optical pulse signal535.

FIG. 8 shows the positional relationship on the time axis between theoptical pulse signals of channels W1 to W4 and the optical pulse signalsof channels C1 and C2 after the optical pulse signals of channels C1 andC2 have been encoded. The shape of the optical pulse signals before andafter passing through the wavelength disperser, that is, an encodedoptical pulse signal and shaped and encoded optical pulse signal areshown for the optical pulse signals of channels C1 and C2. The figuretext ‘(before passing through a wavelength disperser)’ for channels C1and C2 represents an encoded optical pulse signal and the figure text‘(after passing through a wavelength disperser)’ for channels C1 and C2represents a shaped and encoded optical pulse signal. For example, theencoded optical pulse signal and shaped and encoded optical pulse signalof channel C1 are the encoded optical pulse signal 515 and shaped andencoded optical pulse signal 517 shown in FIG. 5 respectively.

As shown in FIG. 8, the encoded optical pulse signal is divided intochip pulses by the encoder. The dispositional relationship of the chippulses of channels C1 and C2 is different because the dispositionalrelationship on the time axis of the chip pulses is decided by codesestablished for the encoders of the respective channels. That is, thedifference in the dispositional relationship of the chip pulses is theidentifier for distinguishing the channels C1 and C2.

Further, the width on the time axis of the chip pulses constituting theshaped and encoded optical pulse signals grows wider and exceeds thewidth of the time slots. This is the result of shaping the timewaveforms of the chip pulses using a wavelength disperser. That is, thisis the result of executing a time waveform shaping step.

Although the intensity of the optical pulse signals of channels W1 to W4is shown as equal in FIG. 8, the intensities are actually a littledifferent on account of the difference in characteristics of theintensity modulators of the respective channels, and so forth. Further,the intensity of the chip pulses constituting the shaped and encodedoptical pulse signals of channels C1 and C2 is also somewhat differentdue to the difference in the characteristics of the encoder andwavelength disperser, and so forth, of each channel.

FIG. 9 shows the time waveform of the optical division multiplexingsignal 541 generated by multiplexing the optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal and the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal bymeans of the multiplexer 540 as shown in FIG. 5. The optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing signal is regulated by equalizing the intensity ofthe optical pulses constituting the optical pulse signals of channels W1to W4 by means of the power regulator. Further, the intensity of thechip pulses constituting the shaped and encoded optical pulse signals ofchannels C1 and C2 is also regulated equal by means of the powerregulator.

The optical division multiplexing signal 541 is a signal that isgenerated by mixing the optical wavelength division multiplexing signaland the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal and, therefore, therespective time waveforms of the optical pulse signals of channels W1 toW4 and the chip pulses constituting the shaped and encoded optical pulsesignals of channels C1 and C2 shown in FIG. 8 are exactly overlapped.

FIG. 10 shows a time waveform of an optical wavelength division signalthat is outputted from the wavelength de-multiplexer 632 shown in FIG. 5and a time waveform of the decoded OCDM reception signal and reproducedoptical pulse signal of channels C1 and C2. The time waveforms of theoptical pulse signals before and after passing through the inversewavelength disperser 614, that is, the time waveforms of the decodedOCDM reception signal and reproduced optical pulse signal are shown forchannels C1 and C2. The reproduced optical pulse signal has noiseremoved therefrom as a result of being supplied to the first thresholdvalue judgment section 618 of each channel of the OCDM channel.

The figure text ‘(before passing through an inverse wavelengthdisperser)’ for channels C1 and C2 represents a decoded OCDM receptionsignal and the figure text ‘(after passing through an inverse wavelengthdisperser)’ for channels C1 and C2 represents a reproduced optical pulsesignal. For example, the decoded OCDM reception signal and reproducedoptical pulse signal of channel C1 are the decoded OCDM reception signal613 and reproduced optical pulse signal 615 respectively shown in FIG.5.

In FIG. 10, the optical pulse signal played back in each channel isshown shaded. That is, the optical pulses shown shaded are the receptionsignals of each channel. The other optical pulse components (unshadedcomponents) are removed as noise in the first threshold value judgmentsection in the OCDM channel and the second threshold value judgmentsection in the WDM channel.

As mentioned earlier, the optical division multiplexing signal 541 is asignal generated by multiplexing the shaped and encoded optical pulsesignals of the respective OCDM channels and the optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing signals of the respective WDM channels by means ofa multiplexer 540. Therefore, both the OCDM reception signal and WDMreception signal that are obtained by intensity-dividing the opticaldivision multiplexing signal 541 by means of the de-multiplexer 605equally contain the shaped and encoded optical pulse signals of therespective OCDM channels and the optical pulse signals of the respectiveWDM channels. This fact is described with reference to FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 shows the time waveforms of the optical signals supplied to thesecond threshold value judgment section for channels W1 and W4. That is,when the description is provided with channel W1 removed, the timewaveform of the optical wavelength division signal 633. As mentionedearlier, the above-mentioned optical signals originating in the OCDMchannels invaded the optical wavelength division signal 633 via themultiplexer 540, the transmission path 550, the de-multiplexer 605, andthe wavelength de-multiplexer 632.

The optical signals originating in the OCDM channels that invade channelW1 are subjected to wavelength dispersion by a wavelength disperser and,therefore, the time width of the optical signals increases. That is, theoptical signals originating in the OCDM channel that invade channel W1are shown in FIG. 10 with identification numbers such as ‘1’ appendedthereto as optical pulses that are equal to or wider than the width ofthe time slots.

Thus, because the time width of the optical signals originating in theOCDM channel increases, the peak value decreases and the opticalwavelength division signal 633 of channel W1 that contains the opticalsignal component originating in the OCDM channel is removed as noise bythe second threshold value judgment section 634. The WDM signal 635 ofchannel W1 is then extracted by the second threshold value judgmentsection 634. The same is true of channels W2 to W4.

FIG. 10 shows the time waveforms of the decoded OCDM reception signalbefore same is inputted to the inverse wavelength disperser and thereproduced optical pulse signal after passing through the inversewavelength disperser, that is, which is outputted from the inversewavelength disperser, for channels C1 and C2.

First, channel C1 will be described by way of example. The OCDMreception signal of channel C1 is inputted to the decoder 612 andoutputted after being decoded as the decoded OCDM reception signal 613.The decoded OCDM reception signal 613 is inputted to the inversewavelength disperser 614 and outputted as the reproduced optical pulsesignal 615 after the shaped optical pulse signal component contained inthe decoded OCDM reception signal 613 has been restored. That is, theinverse wavelength disperser 614 executes the time waveform restorationstep. This fact is described with reference to FIG. 10.

In FIG. 10, the figure text ‘channel C1 (before passing through theinverse wavelength disperser)’ represents the time waveform of thedecoded OCDM reception signal 613 outputted from the decoder 612.

As mentioned earlier, the optical signals originating in the WDM channelinvade the OCDM reception signal 606 allocated to channel C1 via themultiplexer 540, transmission line 550, and de-multiplexer 605. Further,the optical signal component that originates in the WDM channelcontained in the OCDM reception signal 606 does not pass through thewavelength disperser in the transmission section 500. However, the OCDMreception signal 606 is inputted to the decoder 612 and decoded and thenoutputted as the decoded OCDM reception signal 613.

In other words, the OCDM reception signal 606 is an optical signal thatis generated by combining the optical pulse components originating inthe WDM channel and the optical pulse components originating in the OCDMchannel and, therefore, the optical pulse components originating in theWDM channel and the optical pulse components originating in the OCDMchannel are both similarly decoded by the decoder 612. That is, althoughthe optical pulse components originating in the OCDM channel aredecoded, the optical pulse components originating in the WDM channel areactually encoded by the decoder 612.

As a result, as shown in the drawings in which ‘channel C1 (beforepassing through the inverse wavelength disperser)’ appears in FIG. 10,the optical pulse components originating in the WDM channel widen aschip pulses in the direction of the time axis. More specifically, wherethe chip pulses are concerned, the squares shown to surround numericalvalues indicated by 1 to 4 are optical pulse components that originatein the WDM channel. Further, the rectangles outside which numericalvalues denoted by 1 to 4 that are drawn as similarly increasing in thehorizontal direction are appended denote optical pulse components thatoriginate in channel C2.

The chip pulses of the optical pulse components originating in channelC2 exist spread out on the time axis. However, the optical pulsecomponents originating in channel C1 exist overlapping on the time axisas shown with shading. This is because the optical pulse componentsoriginating in channel C1 are decoded so as to exist overlapping on thetime axis as a result of being decoded by the decoder 612 for which thesame codes as the encoder of channel C1 have been set. On the otherhand, because the optical pulse components originating in channel C2 areencoded by the encoder of channel C2, the optical pulse components arenot decoded by the decoder 612 for which codes that are different fromthe codes set for the encoder of channel C2 have been set. Hence, thechip pulses exist dispersed on the time axis.

Meanwhile, FIG. 10, in which ‘channel C2 (before passing through theinverse wavelength disperser)’ appears, shows the time waveform of adecoded OCDM reception signal that is outputted from the decoder ofchannel C2. In FIG. 10, contrary to what was stated earlier, the opticalpulse components that originate in channel C2 are decoded. This isbecause this case is the same as the earlier case of channel C1.

However, the time width of the decoded optical pulse signals remainsincreased in the cases of channel C1 and also channel C2. That is, thisis a state where the time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signalremains shaped by the wavelength disperser in the transmission section500. Therefore, the decoded OCDM reception signal is inputted to theinverse wavelength disperser and the time width of the decoded opticalpulse signal, which is in a state where the time waveform remainsshaped, must be narrowed to a state prior to the shaping of the timewaveform.

Therefore, for the time waveform of the reproduced optical pulse signalthat is outputted from the inverse wavelength disperser, FIG. 10 shows‘channel C1 (after passing through an inverse wavelength disperser)’ and‘channel C2 (after passing through an inverse wavelength disperser)’ forchannel C1 and channel C2 respectively.

As shown in FIG. 10 in which ‘channel C1 (after passing through aninverse wavelength disperser)’ appears, the time width of the opticalpulse components originating in the channel C1 shown shaded narrows tothe state prior to shaping of the time waveform. Likewise, as shown inFIG. 10 in which ‘channel C2 (after passing through an inversewavelength disperser)’ appears, the time width of the optical pulsecomponents originating in channel C2 that are shown shaded narrows tothe state prior to shaping of the time waveform. That is, the respectiveautocorrelation waveforms (shaded in FIG. 10) of the optical pulsesignals of the transmitted channels C1 and C2 are generated.

Thus, in channel C1, the optical signals originating in the WDM channelhave a small peak value as a result of the time width thereofincreasing. Further, the time width of the optical signals originatingin channel C2 is also extended. Therefore, among the optical signals 615of channel C1, the optical signal components originating in the WDMchannel and the optical signal components originating in channel 2 areremoved as noise by the first threshold value judgment section 618.Further, the OCDM signal 619 of channel C1 is extracted by the firstthreshold value judgment section 618.

As in channel C2, the peak value of optical signals originating in theWDM channel is small as a result of an increase in the time width of theoptical signals. Further, the time width of the optical signalsoriginating in channel C1 is also extended. Therefore, among the opticalsignals of channel C1, the optical signal components originating in theWDM channel and the optical signal components originating in channel C1are removed as noise by the first threshold value judgment section ofchannel C2. The OCDM signal of channel C2 is then extracted by the firstthreshold value judgment section of channel C2.

Here, the constitutional examples of the first and second thresholdvalue judgment sections will be described. The first and secondthreshold value judgment sections with the constitution described herecan also be used in the second embodiment that will be describedsubsequently.

The first and second threshold value judgment sections can beconstituted by using a nonlinear optical fiber loop. This example willbe described as a first example.

The constitution of the nonlinear optical fiber loop and the operatingprinciples thereof are described in the document (Govind P. Agrawal etal: “Nonlinear Fiber Optics”, Second Edition, Academic Press, publishedin 1989). An example of threshold value processing by using a nonlinearoptical fiber loop is disclosed in the document (Ju Han Lee et al.,“Reduction of Interchannel Interference Noise in a Two-ChannelGrating-Based OCDMA System Using a Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror”, IEEE,Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 13, No. 5, May 2001, pp. 529-531). Inboth documents, the dependence of the phase difference between lightthat is propagated clockwise by a nonlinear optical fiber loop and lightthat is propagated counterclockwise on the intensity of the signal thatis inputted to the nonlinear optical fiber loop as a result of thenonlinear optical effect that is produced in the optical fiberconstituting the nonlinear optical fiber loop is used.

The light that is inputted to the nonlinear optical fiber loop isdivided into light that is propagated clockwise by the nonlinear opticalfiber loop and light that is propagated counterclockwise by adirectional optical coupler. By establishing the branching ratio bydelaying same from 1:1, the phase difference between the lightpropagated clockwise by the nonlinear optical fiber loop and the lightpropagated counterclockwise can be made nonlinearly dependent on theintensity of the input light. As a result, when the light inputted tothe nonlinear optical fiber loop is strong, the light can be outputtedas transmitted light from the nonlinear optical fiber loop and,conversely, when the light is weak, the light can be outputted asreflected light.

Because the intensity of the light component that is removed as noise isweak, this light component is outputted as reflected light from thenonlinear optical fiber loop. Further, because the intensity of theoptical signal component is strong, the optical signal component isoutputted as transmitted light from the nonlinear optical fiber loop.This fact is used to make it possible to remove only the optical signalcomponent obtained as transmitted light from the transmitted lightoutput port of the nonlinear optical fiber loop. That is, thresholdvalue processing of the light inputted to the nonlinear optical fiberloop can be executed.

Furthermore, the first and second threshold value judgment sections canbe constituted by using a light saturable absorber. This example will bedescribed as a second example.

The constitution and operating principles of the threshold valuejudgment element constituted by using the light saturable absorber aredescribed in detail in Document (Japanese Patent Application Laid OpenNo. 2003-248251). According to this document, a carbon nanotube is usedas the light saturable absorber. It is known that a carbon nanotube hasa nonlinear optical characteristic that the rate of absorption decreasesin proportion to the 2^(nd) power of the light intensity. If thisquality is utilized, an operation similar to that of the threshold valuejudgment element that uses the abovementioned nonlinear optical fiberloop can be implemented.

That is, when the light intensity inputted to the light saturableabsorber is strong, the light saturable absorber is a transparent bodyand outputs transmitted light. On the other hand, when the lightintensity inputted to the light saturable absorber is weak, the lightsaturable absorber is nontransparent and the input light is blocked.

The intensity of the light component removed as noise is weak andtherefore reflected by the light saturable absorber. Further, becausethe intensity of the optical signal component is strong, the opticalsignal component is transmitted by the light saturable absorber andoutputted as transmitted light. This fact is used to make it possible toremove only the optical signal component obtained as transmitted lightfrom the transmitted light output port of the threshold value judgmentelement formed by using a light saturable absorber. That is, thresholdvalue processing of the light inputted to the nonlinear light saturableabsorber can be executed.

Second Embodiment

An optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method and adevice for implementing this method of the second embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 11. The optical division multiplexingtransmission and reception device comprises a transmission section 700that comprises in parallel an optical code division multiplexing signalgeneration section 710 and an optical time division multiplexing signalgeneration section 730, and a reception section 800 that comprises inparallel an optical code division multiplexing signal extraction section810 and an optical time division multiplexing signal extraction section830.

In the subsequent description, the optical time division multiplexingsignal generation section is also abbreviated as OTDM signal generationsection and the optical time division multiplexing signal extractionsection is also abbreviated as the OTDM signal extraction section.

The constitution of an OCDM signal generation section 710 is the same asthat of the OCDM signal generation section 510 shown in FIG. 5. That is,an intensity modulator 712 corresponds to the intensity modulator 512,an encoder 714 corresponds to the encoder 514, a wavelength disperser716 corresponds to the wavelength disperser 516, and a power regulator720 corresponds to the power regulator 520. Therefore, in the OCDMsignal generation section 710, the description of the steps up to thepoint where the time waveform shaped step is executed and the shaped andencoded optical pulse signal is generated is omitted here.

The optical time division multiplexing signal generation step isimplemented by the OTDM signal generation section 730. The OTDM signalgeneration section 730 generates an optical time division multiplexingsignal by allocating different time slots to each channel.

The OCDM signal generation section 710 that executes the optical codedivision multiplexing signal generation step and the OTDM signalgeneration section 730 that executes the optical time divisionmultiplexing signal generation step are provided in parallel as shown inFIG. 11.

So too in FIG. 11, only one channel's worth of each of the OCDM signalgeneration section 710 and the OTDM signal generation section 730 isshown as per FIG. 5 and the other channels are omitted. Except for thefact that the codes set for the encoders of the OCDM signal generationsections 710 that are arranged in parallel in a quantity equal to thenumber of OCDM channels are different, the other constituent elementsare the same. However, the wavelength dispersion characteristics of thewavelength disperser 716 may be the same for each channel or differentfor each channel. Further, the OTDM signal generation sections 730 thatare arranged in parallel in a quantity corresponding to the number ofOTDM channels have the same constitution for each channel up to thepoint where the signals of the respective OTDM channels are inputted toan optical time division multiplexing signal mixing section 738.

In the following description, two of each of the OCDM channels and OTDMchannels are sometimes described for the sake of expediency. However, itis obvious that the following description is valid irrespective of thenumber of channels.

The transmission section 700 further comprises a multiplexer 740 thatgenerates an optical division multiplexing signal by multiplexing ashaped and encoded optical pulse signal and an optical time divisionmultiplexing signal. On the other hand, the reception section 800comprises a de-multiplexer 805 that divides the received opticaldivision multiplexing signal into an optical code division multiplexingreception signal and an optical time division multiplexing receptionsignal.

The optical code division multiplexing signal extraction step is thesame as the step that is executed by the OCDM signal extraction section610 of the optical division transmission and reception device of thefirst embodiment that was described with reference to FIG. 5. Therefore,a detailed description is omitted.

The decoder 812 of the optical code division multiplexing signalextraction section 810 generates a decoded optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal from the optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal. A reproduced optical pulse signal isgenerated by an inverse wavelength disperser 814 from the shaped opticalpulse signal component contained in the decoded optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal. Only the autocorrelation waveformcomponent of the optical pulse signal constituting the transmissionsignal is extracted from the reproduced optical pulse signal by a firstthreshold value judgment section 818. Further, the time waveform shapingstep is performed by the wavelength disperser 716 and the time waveformrestoration step is performed by the inverse wavelength disperser 814.

The optical time division multiplexing signal extraction step isexecuted by the OTDM signal extraction section 830. In the OTDM signalextraction section 830, an optical time division multiplexing signal ofeach channel is extracted from the optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing reception signal by the second threshold value judgmentsection 834 that the OTDM signal extraction section comprises.

The constitution of the OCDM signal generation sections 710 of the OCDMchannels of the transmission section 700 is the same as the constitutionof the OCDM signal generation sections 510 of the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device of the first inventionand, therefore, a description of the constitution and operation of theconstitution of the OCDM signal generation sections 710 is omitted.

Furthermore, because the constitution and function of the wavelengthdisperser 716 and inverse wavelength disperser 814, which are featuresof the optical division multiplexing transmission and reception methodand the device that that implements this method of this embodiment, arethe same as those of the wavelength disperser 516 and inverse wavelengthdisperser 614, a description thereof is omitted here. The characteristicof the optical division multiplexing transmission and reception methodand the device that implements this method of the second embodiment isthat the transmission step comprises an encoding step that is executedby the encoder 714 and a time waveform shaping step that is executed bythe wavelength disperser 716.

The constitution of the OTDM signal generation sections 730 of the OTDMchannels of the transmission section 700 will be described next withreference to FIG. 11. The OTDM signal generation section 730 has aplurality of OTDM channels installed in parallel. Here, the first OTDMchannel will be described by way of representative example. Because theother OTDM channels also have the same structure, a description thereofwill be omitted here.

The OTDM signal generation section 730 is constituted comprising anintensity modulator 732, a power regulator 734, and an optical timedivision multiplexing signal mixing section 738. First, an optical pulsearray 729 is inputted to the intensity modulator 732, which is aconstituent element of the OTDM signal generation section 730. Herealso, the optical pulse array 729 contains light of the wavelengths λ₁,λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄ as per the OCDM-channel case.

The intensity modulator 732 has a function for converting a binarydigital electrical signal, which is transmission information on thefirst OTDM channel, into an RZ-formatted optical pulse signal. Theoptical pulse array 729 that is inputted to the intensity modulator 732is outputted as an optical pulse signal 731 that reflects thetransmission information of the first OTDM channel. The optical pulsesignal 731 contains light of the wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄. Thatis, when the optical pulses that constitute the optical pulse signal 731are divided, the optical pulses are divided into optical pulses thecenter wavelengths of which are the wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, and λ₃, and soforth respectively.

The optical pulse signal 731 is inputted to the power regulator 734 suchthat the power is regulated and the optical pulse signal is outputted asthe optical pulse signal 735, which is inputted to the optical timedivision multiplexing signal mixing section 738. The power regulator 734is also installed with the same objective as that for the powerregulator 720 that is provided in the OCDM signal generation section710.

The power regulator 734 is installed in order to render the intensity ofthe optical pulse signals of the respective OTDM channels uniform. Whenthe intensities of the optical pulse signals differ greatly between therespective OTDM channels, there is the possibility that the secondthreshold value judgment section of the reception section 800 will nolonger be able to extract only the optical time division multiplexingsignals of the respective OTDM channels.

In the case of the optical time division multiplexing signal mixingsection 738, the optical pulse signals of the respective OTDM channelsare mixed by adding a time lag so that the optical pulse signals liewithin the time slots allocated to each channel. The optical timedivision multiplexing signal thus mixed is generated and outputted bythe optical time division multiplexing signal mixing section 738.

As described hereinabove, the shaped and encoded optical pulse signalsof the respective OCDM channels and the optical time divisionmultiplexing signal 739 that is generated by multiplexing the opticalpulse signals of the respective OTDM channels are mixed by themultiplexer 740 to produce an optical division multiplexing signal 741that is sent to the reception section 800 as a result of propagation bythe transmission line 750 that is constituted by optical fiber. Here,the shaped and encoded optical pulse signals of the respective OCDMchannels signify two channels' worth including the shaped and encodedoptical pulse signal 721 of the first OCDM channel and are shaped andencoded optical pulse signals that are generated by multiplexing theshaped and encoded optical pulse signals of the first and second OCDMchannels.

The constitution and function of the reception section 800 will bedescribed next. The reception section 800 comprises the de-multiplexer805, the OCDM signal extraction section 810, and the OTDM signalextraction section 830 and the OCDM signal extraction section 810 andOTDM signal extraction section 830 are constituted in parallel.

The constitution of the OCDM signal extraction section 810 is the sameas that of the OCDM signal extraction section 610 shown in FIG. 5. Thatis, the decoder 812 corresponds to the decoder 612, the inversewavelength disperser 814 corresponds to the inverse wavelength disperser614, the first threshold value judgment section 818 corresponds to thefirst threshold value judgment section 618, and the receiver 820corresponds to the receiver 620. Therefore, the OCDM signal extractionsection 810 executes an optical code division multiplexing signalextraction step and a description of the steps up to the point where theoptical pulse signals of the respective OCDM channels are played backwill be omitted.

The optical division multiplexing signal 741 is inputted to thede-multiplexer 805 and divided into an OCDM reception signal 806 and anOTDM reception signal 831. The optical division multiplexing signal 741is a signal that is generated by multiplexing, by means of themultiplexer 740, the shaped and encoded optical pulse signals of therespective OCDM channels and the time division multiplexing signalgenerated by multiplexing the optical pulse signals of the respectiveOTDM channels. Therefore, both the OCDM reception signal and the OTDMreception signal, which are obtained by subjecting the optical divisionmultiplexing signal 741 to intensity division by means of thede-multiplexer 805, are signals that equally contain the shaped andencoded optical pulse signals of the respective OCDM channels and theoptical time division multiplexing signal of the respective OTDMchannels.

Among the OCDM reception signals that are supplied to the OCDM signalextraction section 810, the OCDM reception signal 806 that is allocatedto the first OCDM channel is inputted to the decoder 812 and outputteddecoded as a decoded OCDM reception signal 813. The decoded OCDMreception signal 813 is inputted to the inverse wavelength disperser 814and the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal component contained inthe decoded OCDM reception signal 813 is restored and outputted as areproduced optical pulse signal 815. That is, the inverse wavelengthdisperser 814 executes a time waveform restoration step.

Here, although components other than the shaped and encoded opticalpulse signal component are also contained in the decoded OCDM receptionsignal 813, the components other than the shaped and encoded opticalpulse signal component are processed as noise in the subsequent steps ofthe first OCDM channel. Therefore, the effective signal outputted fromthe inverse wavelength disperser 814 is the reproduced optical pulsesignal 815. A detailed description of the decoded OCDM reception signal813 and the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal component and soforth will be provided subsequently.

The reproduced optical pulse signal 815 is inputted to the firstthreshold value judgment section 818 and, as a result of the firstthreshold value judgment step being executed, only an autocorrelationwaveform component 819 of an optical pulse signal 713 that reflectstransmission information on the first OCDM channel is outputted. Theautocorrelation waveform component 819 is inputted to the receiver 820,the autocorrelation waveform component 819 constituting an optical pulsesignal is converted (O/E converted) into an electrical pulse signal andacquired by the reception section 800 as reception information on thefirst OCDM channel. That is, the transmission information on the firstOCDM channel transmitted from the transmission section 700 is receivedby the reception section 800 as reception information on the first OCDMchannel.

Meanwhile, the OTDM reception signal 831 supplied to the OTDM signalextraction section 830 will be described. Here also, the first OTDMchannel will be described representatively as per the description of theOTDM signal generation section 730 above. The OTDM reception signal 831that is supplied to the OTDM signal extraction section 830 is inputtedto an optical time division multiplexing signal division section 832 andseparated into optical time division signals that correspond with eachof the OTDM channels that are supplied to the second threshold valuejudgment sections of the respective channels. Of these, an optical timedivision signal 833 that is supplied to the second threshold valuejudgment section 834 of the first OTDM channel is inputted to a receiver836 as a result of a second threshold value judgment step being executedand an OTDM signal 835 of the first OTDM channel being extracted. Thatis, transmission information on the first OTDM channel that istransmitted from the transmission section 700 is received by thereception section 800 as reception information on the first OTDMchannel.

Here also, as per the OCDM-channel case, the optical time divisionsignal 833 that is supplied to the second threshold value judgmentsection 834 also contains a shaped and encoded optical pulse signalcomponent of the OCDM channel. However, the shaped and encoded opticalpulse signal component of the OCDM channel is processed as noise in thesubsequent steps of the first OTDM channel. A detailed description ofthe shaped and encoded optical pulse signal component of the OCDMchannel and so forth will also be provided subsequently.

The optical-signal transmission form of the optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device of the second embodimentwill now be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 18. Here, theoptical-signal transmission form will be described by taking the opticaldivision multiplexing transmission and reception device described withreference to FIG. 11 as a model. FIGS. 12 to 18 show the time waveformsof two channels' worth of optical pulse signals of the OTDM channels andtwo channels' worth of optical pulse signals of the OCDM channels, wherethe horizontal axis represents the time axis. The first and secondchannels of the OTDM channels (first OTDM channel and second OTDMchannel) are shown as channel T1 and channel T2 respectively, and thefirst and second channels of the OCDM channels (the first OCDM channeland second OCDM channel) are shown as channel C1 and channel C2respectively.

Furthermore, the gaps between the parallel broken lines in the verticaldirection in FIGS. 13 to 18 illustrate the time slots. That is, oneoptical pulse or chip pulse is allocated to the time zones interposedbetween the broken lines. Here, two OTDM channels are described and twoOCDM channels are described but the number of channels is not restrictedto these quantities and the following description is similarly valideven with a few channels.

In FIGS. 12 to 18, the optical pulse signals of the OCDM channels andthe optical pulses constituting the optical pulse signals of the OTDMchannels are constituted containing the wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄.In order to illustrate this, rectangles that surround the numbers 1, 2,3, and 4 identifying the wavelengths λ₁, λ₂, λ₃, and λ₄ are expedientlyshown stacked on the same time. Here, the description is provided byassuming optical pulse signals constituted from optical pulsescontaining wavelengths of four different types. However, generally, thetypes of wavelengths contained in the optical pulses are not restrictedto four types and the following description is similarly valid even whenthere are a few types. The types of wavelengths contained in the opticalpulses are selected in a suitable number depending on the code lengthset for the encoder. Generally, when an encoder and a decoder for whichcodes of code length n (n is a natural number) have been set are used,it is convenient to establish n types of wavelengths contained in theoptical pulses.

Further, suppose that optical pulses containing the different wavelengthcomponents are shown by stacking rectangles that surround identificationnumbers representing the wavelength components of the optical pulses onthe same time. Further, in FIGS. 12 to 18, as per FIGS. 7 to 10, oneoptical pulse is drawn occupying the same time slot, for the opticalpulse signals of each of the channels of the OTDM channel and the OCDMchannel. In the subsequent description with reference to FIGS. 12 to 18,this one optical pulse will also be called an optical pulse signal asper the description of the optical division multiplexing transmissionand reception device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 shows an optical pulse signal that is outputted from anOCDM-channel intensity modulator (intensity modulator 712 for channelC1) and an OTDM-channel intensity modulator (intensity modulator 732 forchannel T1) of the transmission section 700 shown in FIG. 11. Forexample, the optical pulse signal of channel C1 is optical pulse signal713 and the optical pulse signal of channel T1 is optical pulse signal731.

FIG. 13 shows the dispositional relationship on the time axis betweenthe optical pulse signals of channels T1 and T2 and optical pulsesignals of channels C1 and C2. For the optical pulse signals of channelsC1 and C2, the shape of the optical pulse signals before and afterpassing through the wavelength disperser, that is, the encoded opticalpulse signal and the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal, are shown.The figure text ‘(before passing through a wavelength disperser)’ forchannels C1 and C2 represents an encoded optical pulse signal and thefigure text ‘(after passing through a wavelength disperser)’ forchannels C1 and C2 represents a shaped and encoded optical pulse signal.For example, the encoded optical pulse signal and shaped and encodedoptical pulse signal of channel C1 are the encoded optical pulse signal715 and shaped and encoded optical pulse signal 717 shown in FIG. 11respectively.

As shown in FIG. 13, the encoded optical pulse signal is divided intochip pulses by the encoder. The dispositional relationship of the chippulses of channels C1 and C2 is different because the dispositionalrelationship on the time axis of the chip pulses is decided by codesestablished for the encoders of the respective channels. That is, thedifference in the dispositional relationship of the chip pulses is theidentifier for distinguishing the channels C1 and C2.

Further, the width on the time axis of the chip pulses constituting theshaped and encoded optical pulse signals increases and exceeds the widthof the time slots. This is the effect of shaping the time waveform ofthe chip pulses by means of the wavelength disperser, that is, theeffect of executing the time waveform shaping step.

In FIG. 13, although the intensities of the optical pulse signals ofchannels T1 and T2 have been drawn equal, the intensities are actually alittle different on account of the difference in the characteristics ofthe intensity modulators of the respective channels. Further, theintensities of the chip pulses that constitute the shaped and encodedoptical pulse signals of channels C1 and C2 are a little different dueto the difference in the characteristics of the encoders and wavelengthdispersers and so forth of the respective channels.

FIG. 14 shows the time waveform of the optical division multiplexingsignal 741 that is generated by multiplexing the optical time divisionmultiplexing signal and the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal bymeans of the multiplexer 740 as shown in FIG. 11. The optical divisionmultiplexing signals are mixed after adjusting the intensities of theoptical pulses constituting the optical pulse signals of channels T1 andT2 by means of a power regulator so that the intensities are equal.Further, the intensities of the chip pulses constituting the shaped andencoded optical pulse signals of channels C1 and C2 are also mixed afterbeing regulated so that the intensities are equal by the powerregulator.

The optical division multiplexing signal 741 is a signal that isgenerated by multiplexing the optical time division multiplexing signaland the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal and, therefore, therespective time waveforms of the optical pulse signals of the channelsT1 and T2 shown in FIG. 13 and the chip pulses constituting the shapedand encoded optical pulse signals of channels C1 and C2 are exactlystacked.

FIG. 15 shows a time waveform of the optical pulse signals obtained as aresult of the OCDM reception signal 806, which is generated by dividingthe optical division multiplexing signal 741 by means of thede-multiplexer 805 shown in FIG. 11, being inputted to the optical timedivision multiplexing signal division section 832 and intensity-dividedfor each OTDM channel. In FIG. 15, time slots that are allocated to onebit's worth of the OTDM channel are shown by means of thick uprightbroken lines. That is, the time interval that is sandwiched by the thickupright broken lines denotes a time slot that is allocated to one bit'sworth of the OTDM channel. Further, the thin upright broken linesindicate time slots to which one chip pulse's worth is allocated. Thatis, the time intervals sandwiched by the thin upright broken linesindicate time slots to which one chip pulse's worth is allocated.

Hereinafter, the time slots are sometimes represented by distinguishingthe time slots to which one bit's worth is allocated as bit slots andthe time slots to which one chip pulse's worth is allocated as chipslots.

Furthermore, here, first, in order to avoid confusion, the presence ofoptical pulses or chip pulses is represented by limiting same only tothe one bit-slot range. In reality, because optical pulses or chippulses also exist in adjacent bit slots, the time waveforms should bedrawn with that taken into consideration. As described subsequently,time waveforms for a case where optical pulses or chip pulses that existin adjacent bit slots are considered are shown in FIG. 16. Therefore,FIG. 15 is (1) and FIG. 16 is (2).

In (the upper diagram) of FIG. 15, which illustrates a time waveformthat is allocated to channel T1, the OTDM signal of channel T1 is shownwith the optical pulses shaded. Further, in (the lower diagram) of FIG.15, which illustrates a time waveform that is allocated to channel T2,the OTDM signal of channel T2 is shown with the optical pulses shaded.

Further, chip pulses other than the optical pulses representing the OTDMsignals of channels T1 and T2, the half-value width of which increaseson the time axis, are chip pulse components that originate in the OCDMchannel. As shown in FIG. 15, the reason why the time widths of chippulse components that originate in the OCDM channel increase is becausethe chip pulse components are wavelength-dispersed by the wavelengthdisperser set for the OCDM signal generation section 710.

As mentioned earlier, FIG. 16 shows time waveforms for optical pulsesignals, which are obtained through intensity division for each OTDMchannel, by considering optical pulses or chip pulses that exist inadjacent bit slots. The diagram at the top shows a time waveformallocated to channel T1 and the diagram at the bottom shows a timewaveform allocated to channel T2.

The difference from FIG. 15 is that the components of adjacent bit slotspenetrate the borders of the time axis demarcating the bit slot, forexample. For example, the chip pulse component of wavelength λ₃penetrates the lowest part of the optical pulse representing the OTDMsignal of channel T1 shown with shading of channel T1. This corresponds,in FIG. 15, to the chip pulse component of wavelength λ₃ in which aportion of the chip pulse of wavelength λ₃ that exists extending overthe thick broken lines on the right side that occupies the border of thetime axis that demarcates the bit slot penetrates the lowest part of theoptical pulse representing the OTDM signal of the channel T1 shown inFIG. 16. The time waveform shown in FIG. 16 is actually an eye patternthat is observed by means of a light-sampling oscilloscope and so forth.

As shown in FIG. 16, the optical pulses of channel T1 and channel T2coexist in one bit slot. Therefore, the optical pulses of channel T2must be cut in channel T1 and the optical pulses of channel T1 must becut in channel T2. This is the time gate step. The time gate step isperformed, as is conventionally known, by using a clock signal that isextracted from the OTDM reception signal 831 or the like. Because thetime gate step can be executed as long as a conventionally knownprocedure is used, a description of the time gate step is omitted here.

The abovementioned time gate step is executed. Shaded optical pulses inthe upper diagram are selected for channel T1 and shaded optical pulsesin the lower diagram are selected for channel T2.

However, the chip pulse components that exist spread out with respect tothe time axis cannot be removed from both channels. Therefore, inchannel T1, for example, the second threshold value judgment step isexecuted by the second threshold value judgment section 834. Thus, thechip pulse components with an increased time width have a smallerintensity than the shaded optical pulse signals and are thereforeremoved by the second threshold value judgment section 834 to extractthe OTDM signal 835 of channel T1. That is, transmission information onchannel T1 that is transmitted from the transmission section 700 isreceived by the reception section 800 as reception information onchannel T1. That is, the shaped and encoded optical pulse signalcomponents of the OCDM channels, which are chip pulse components of anincreased time width, are processed as noise in channel T1.

The OTDM signal 835 of channel T1 is inputted to the receiver 836,converted (O/E converted) into an electrical pulse signal, and acquiredby the reception section 800 as reception information on channel T1.That is, transmission information on channel T1 that is transmitted fromthe transmission section 700 is received by the reception section 800 asreception information on channel T1.

By executing the second threshold value judgment step similarly inchannel T2, the OTDM signal of channel T2 that is removed by the secondthreshold value judgment section is extracted and received by thereception section 800 as reception information on channel T2. The OTDMsignal on channel T2 is also similarly O/E converted and thetransmission information on channel T2 that is transmitted from thetransmission section 700 is received by the reception section 800 asreception information on channel T2.

FIG. 17 shows time waveforms of decoded optical code divisionmultiplexing signals that are outputted by the decoder of the opticalcode division multiplexing signal extraction section 810. FIG. 17 showsthe time waveform of the decoded OCDM reception signal 813 that isinputted to the inverse wavelength disperser 814 of channel C1 at thehighest level and the time waveform of the decoded OCDM reception signalthat is inputted to the inverse wavelength disperser of channel C2similarly to channel C1 on the second level. Further, FIG. 17 shows,starting at the top, the time waveform of the reproduced optical pulsesignal 815 that is outputted from the inverse wavelength disperser 814of channel C1 on the third level, and the time waveform of thereproduced optical pulse signal that is outputted from the inversewavelength disperser of channel C2 similarly to channel C1 on the fourthlevel. The reproduced optical pulse signal is supplied to the firstthreshold value judgment sections of the respective channels of the OCDMchannel and noise is removed.

In FIG. 17, optical pulse signals that are played back on each channelare shown shaded. The optical pulses that are shown shaded in the thirdand fourth levels of FIG. 17 are self- and mutual-correlation waveformcomponents that are contained in the reproduced optical pulse signals ofthe respective channels. The other optical pulse components (unshadedcomponents) are removed by the first threshold value judgment section asnoise.

FIG. 17 also shows time slots that are allocated to one bit's worth ofthe OCDM channel by means of thick upright broken lines as per FIG. 15.Narrow upright broken lines also indicate time slots to which one chippulse's worth is allocated.

As mentioned earlier, the optical division multiplexing signal 741 is asignal that is generated by multiplexing shaped and encoded opticalpulse signals of the respective OCDM channels and the optical pulsesignals of the respective OTDM channels by means of the multiplexer 740.Therefore, both the OCDM reception signal and the OTDM reception signalobtained by intensity-dividing the optical division multiplexing signal741 by means of the de-multiplexer 805 equally contain the shaped andencoded optical pulse signals of the respective OCDM channels and theoptical pulse signals of the respective OTDM channels. This fact isdescribed with reference to FIGS. 15 and 17.

FIG. 15 shows time waveforms for optical signals that are supplied tothe second threshold value judgment section for channels T1 and T2. Thatis, when the description is provided with channel T1 removed, the timewaveform of the optical time division signal 833 is shown. As mentionedearlier, optical signals originating in an OCDM channel invade theoptical time division signal 833 via the multiplexer 740, transmissionline 750, de-multiplexer 805, and optical time division multiplexingsignal division section 832.

Optical signals that originate in the OCDM channel that have invadedchannel T1 undergo wavelength dispersion by means of the wavelengthdisperser and therefore the time widths increase. That is, opticalsignals that originate in the OCDM channel that have invaded channel T1are shown in FIG. 15 as optical pulses that have widened at or above thewidth of the time slots.

Thus, because the time widths of the optical signals originating in theOCDM channel increase, the peak values of the optical signals decreaseand the optical time division signal 833 of channel T1 containing theoptical signal components that originate in the OCDM channel is removedas noise by means of the second threshold value judgment section 834.Further, the OTDM signal 835 of channel T1 is extracted from the secondthreshold value judgment section 834. The above is also true for channelT2.

FIG. 17 shows, for channels C1 and C2, time waveforms of decoded OCDMreception signal before same is inputted to the inverse wavelengthdisperser and of a reproduced optical pulse signal that is an opticalpulse signal after passing through the inverse wavelength disperseroutputted from the inverse wavelength disperser.

First, channel C1 will be described by way of example. The OCDMreception signal of channel C1 is inputted to the decoder 812 anddecoded and outputted as the decoded OCDM reception signal 813. Thedecoded OCDM reception signal 813 is inputted to the inverse wavelengthdisperser 814 and the shaped and encoded optical pulse signal componentcontained in the decoded OCDM reception signal 813 is restored andoutputted as the reproduced optical pulse signal 815. That is, theinverse wavelength disperser 814 executes a time waveform restorationstep. This is illustrated with reference to FIG. 17.

FIG. 17, which is shown with ‘channel C1 (before passing through theinverse wavelength disperser)’, shows the time waveform of the decodedOCDM reception signal 813 that is outputted from the decoder 812.

As mentioned earlier, the optical signal originating in the OTDM channelinvades the OCDM reception signal 806 allocated to channel C1 via themultiplexer 740, the transmission line 750, and the de-multiplexer 805.The optical signal component that originates in the OTDM channelcontained in the OCDM reception signal 806 does not pass through thewavelength disperser in the transmission section 700. However, the OCDMreception signal 806 is inputted to the decoder 812 and decoded therebyand then outputted as the decoded OCDM reception signal 813.

In other words, the OCDM reception signal 806 is an optical signal thatis generated by combining the optical pulse components originating inthe OTDM channel and the optical pulse components that originate in theOCDM channel and, therefore, both the optical pulse components thatoriginate in the OTDM channel and the optical pulse components thatoriginate in the OCDM channel are both similarly decoded by the decoder812. That is, although the optical pulse components that originate inthe OCDM channel are decoded, the optical pulse components originatingin the OTDM channel are actually encoded by means of the decoder 812.

Hence, as illustrated by ‘channel C1 (before passing through the inversewavelength disperser)’ in FIG. 17, the optical pulse componentsoriginating in the OTDM channel exist dispersed as chip pulses on thetime axis. More specifically, where the chip pulses are concerned, thesquares shown to surround numerical values indicated by 1 to 4 areoptical pulse components that originate in the OTDM channel. Further,the rectangles outside which numerical values denoted by 1 to 4 that aredrawn as similarly increasing in the horizontal direction are appendeddenote optical pulse components that originate in channel C2.

The chip pulses of the optical pulse components originating in channelC2 exist spread out on the time axis. However, the optical pulsecomponents originating in channel C1 exist overlapping on the time axisas shown with shading. This is because the optical pulse componentsoriginating in channel C1 are decoded so as to exist overlapping on thetime axis as a result of being decoded by the decoder 812 for which thesame codes as the encoder of channel C1 have been set. On the otherhand, because the optical pulse components originating in channel C2 areencoded by the encoder of channel C2, the optical pulse components arenot decoded by the decoder 812 for which codes that are different fromthe codes set for the encoder of channel C2 have been set. Hence, thechip pulses exist dispersed on the time axis.

Meanwhile, FIG. 17, in which ‘channel C2 (before passing through theinverse wavelength disperser)’ appears, shows the time waveform of adecoded OCDM reception signal that is outputted from the decoder ofchannel C2. In FIG. 17, contrary to what was stated earlier, the opticalpulse components that originate in channel C2 are decoded. This isbecause this case is the same as the earlier case of channel C1.

However, the time width of the decoded optical pulse signals remainsincreased in the cases of channel C1 and also channel C2. That is, thisis a state where the time waveform of the encoded optical pulse signalremains shaped by the wavelength disperser in the transmission section700. Therefore, the decoded OCDM reception signal is inputted to theinverse wavelength disperser and the time width of the decoded opticalpulse signal, which is in a state where the time waveform remainsshaped, must be narrowed to a state prior to the shaping of the timewaveform.

Therefore, the time waveform of the reproduced optical pulse signal thatis outputted from the inverse wavelength disperser will be considerednext. For the time waveform of the reproduced optical pulse signal, FIG.17 shows ‘channel C1 (after passing through an inverse wavelengthdisperser)’ and ‘channel C2 (after passing through an inverse wavelengthdisperser)’ for channel C1 and channel C2 respectively.

As shown in FIG. 17 in which ‘channel C1 (after passing through aninverse wavelength disperser)’ appears, the time width of the opticalpulse components originating in the channel C1 shown shaded narrows tothe state prior to shaping of the time waveform. Likewise, as shown inFIG. 17 in which ‘channel C2 (after passing through an inversewavelength disperser)’ appears, the time width of the optical pulsecomponents originating in channel C2 that are shown shaded narrows tothe state prior to shaping of the time waveform. That is, the respectiveautocorrelation waveforms (shaded in FIG. 10) of the optical pulsesignals of the transmitted channels C1 and C2 are generated.

Thus, in channel C1, the optical signals originating in the OTDM channelhave a small peak value as a result of the time width thereofincreasing. Further, the time width of the optical signals originatingin channel C2 is also extended. Therefore, among the optical signals 815of channel C1, the optical signal components relating to the OTDMchannel and the optical signal components relating to channel 2 areremoved as noise by the first threshold value judgment section 818.Further, the OCDM signal 819 of channel C1 is extracted by the firstthreshold value judgment section 818.

As in channel C2, the peak value of optical signals originating in theOTDM channel is small as a result of an increase in the time width ofthe optical signals. Further, the time width of the optical signalsoriginating in channel C1 is also extended. Therefore, among the opticalsignals of channel C2, the optical signal components relating to theOTDM channel and the optical signal components relating to channel C1are removed as noise by the first threshold value judgment section ofchannel C2. The OCDM signal of channel C2 is then extracted by the firstthreshold value judgment section of channel C2.

So too in FIG. 17, time slots that are allocated to one bit's worth ofthe OTDM channel are shown by means of thick upright broken lines as perFIG. 15. That is, the time interval that is sandwiched by the thickupright broken lines denotes a time slot that is allocated to one bit'sworth of the OTDM channel. Further, the thin upright broken linesindicate time slots to which one chip pulse's worth is allocated. Thatis, the time intervals sandwiched by the thin upright broken linesindicate time slots to which one chip pulse's worth is allocated.Furthermore, here also, the presence of optical pulses or chip pulses isrepresented by limiting same only to the one bit-slot range. A timewaveform for a case where optical pulses or chip pulses that exist inadjacent bit slots are considered is shown in FIG. 18. Therefore, FIG.17 is (1) and FIG. 18 is (2).

In FIG. 17, in the diagrams (the diagrams of the uppermost and thirdlevels of FIG. 17) that show the time waveforms allocated to channel C1,the optical pulses representing the OCDM signal of channel C1 are shownshaded and, in the diagrams (the diagrams of the second and fourthlevels of FIG. 17) that show the time waveforms allocated to channel C2,the optical pulses representing the OCDM signal of channel C2 are shownshaded.

As mentioned earlier, FIG. 18 shows time waveforms for optical pulsesignals, which are obtained through intensity division for each OCDMchannel, by considering optical pulses or chip pulses that exist inadjacent bit slots. The difference from FIG. 17 is that the componentsof adjacent bit slots penetrate the borders of the time axis demarcatingthe bit slot, for example.

For example, in FIG. 17, a portion of the optical pulse representing theOCDM signal (time width is extended) of channel C1 that is shown withshading of channel C1 is drawn extending over the border of the timeaxis that demarcates the bit slot. In FIG. 18, the part that is drawnjutting into the next time slot is drawn stacked on the chip pulse ofwavelength λ₃. That is, in FIG. 17, a portion of the OCDM signal ofchannel C1 that exists extending over the thick broken lines on theright that indicate the border of the time axis demarcating the bit slotis drawn stacked on the chip pulse component of wavelength λ₃ that isshown in FIG. 18. A portion of the optical pulses representing the OCDMsignal of channel C1 is a component penetrated by the adjacent bit slot.

The time waveform shown in FIG. 18 is actually an eye pattern that isobserved by means of a light-sampling oscilloscope and so forth.

The OCDM signal 819 of channel C1 is inputted to the receiver 820, O/Econverted, and acquired by the reception section 800 as receptioninformation on channel C1. That is, transmission information on channelC1 that is transmitted from the transmission section 700 is received bythe reception section 800 as reception information on channel C1.

The OCDM signal of channel C2 is extracted and received by the receptionsection 800 as reception information on channel C2. The OCDM signal ofchannel C2 is also similarly O/E converted and transmission informationon channel C2 that is transmitted from the transmission section 700 isreceived by the reception section 800 as reception information onchannel C2.

1. An optical division multiplexing transmission and reception method,comprising: a transmission step and a reception step, wherein saidtransmission step comprises, in parallel, an optical code divisionmultiplexing signal generation step that comprises an encoding step thatgenerates an encoded optical pulse signal by encoding an optical pulsesignal of each channel by allocating a differenttime-spreading/wavelength-hopping code to each channel and a timewaveform shaping step that generates a shaped and encoded optical pulsesignal by shaping the time waveform of said encoded optical pulsesignal; and an optical wavelength division multiplexing signalgeneration step that generates an optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal by allocating a different wavelength to eachchannel, and said transmission step further comprises: a multiplexingstep that generates an optical division multiplexing signal bymultiplexing said shaped and encoded optical pulse signal and saidoptical wavelength division multiplexing signal, and wherein saidreception step comprises, in parallel, a de-multiplexing step thatdivides said optical division multiplexing signal into an optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal and an optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing reception signal; an optical code divisionmultiplexing signal extraction step that comprises a decoding step thatgenerates a decoded optical code division multiplexing reception signalby decoding said optical code division multiplexing reception signal byusing the same code as said time-spreading/wavelength-hopping code foreach of said channels, a time waveform restoration step that generates areproduced optical pulse signal by restoring the shaped optical pulsesignal component contained in said decoded optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal, and a first threshold value judging stepfor extracting only the autocorrelation waveform component of saidoptical pulse signal from said reproduced optical pulse signal; and anoptical wavelength division multiplexing signal extraction step thatcomprises a wavelength division step that generates an opticalwavelength division signal for each channel by wavelength-dividing saidoptical wavelength division multiplexing reception signal and a secondthreshold value judging step that extracts an optical wavelengthdivision multiplexing signal by performing a threshold value judgment onsaid optical wavelength division signal.
 2. An optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device, comprising: atransmission section and a reception section, wherein said transmissionsection comprises, in parallel, an optical code division multiplexingsignal generation section that comprises an encoder that generates anencoded optical pulse signal by encoding an optical pulse signal of eachchannel by allocating a different time-spreading/wavelength-hopping codeto each channel and a wavelength disperser that generates a shaped andencoded optical pulse signal by shaping the time waveform of saidencoded optical pulse signal; and an optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing signal generation section that generates an opticalwavelength division multiplexing signal by allocating a differentwavelength to each channel, and said transmission section furthercomprises: a multiplexer that generates an optical division multiplexingsignal by multiplexing said shaped and encoded optical pulse signal andsaid optical wavelength division multiplexing signal, and wherein saidreception section comprises, in parallel, a de-multiplexer that dividessaid optical division multiplexing signal into an optical code divisionmultiplexing reception signal and an optical wavelength divisionmultiplexing reception signal; an optical code division multiplexingsignal extraction section that comprises a decoder that generates adecoded optical code division multiplexing reception signal by decodingsaid optical code division multiplexing reception signal by using thesame code as said time-spreading/wavelength-hopping code for each ofsaid channels, an inverse wavelength disperser that performs wavelengthdispersion, in which absolute values are equal and codes are reversedwith respect to the dispersion values of said wavelength disperser, andthat generates a reproduced optical pulse signal by restoring the shapedoptical pulse signal component contained in said decoded optical codedivision multiplexing reception signal, and a first threshold valuejudgment section for extracting only the autocorrelation waveformcomponent of said optical pulse signal from said reproduced opticalpulse signal; and an optical wavelength division multiplexing signalextraction section that comprises a wavelength de-multiplexer thatgenerates an optical wavelength division signal for each channel bywavelength-dividing the optical wavelength division multiplexingreception signal and a second threshold value judgment section thatextracts an optical wavelength division multiplexing signal byperforming a threshold value judgment on said optical wavelengthdivision signal.
 3. The optical division multiplexing transmission andreception device according to claim 2, wherein said encoder isconstituted comprising a Fiber Bragg grating.
 4. The optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device according to claim 2,wherein said decoder is constituted comprising a Fiber Bragg grating. 5.The optical division multiplexing transmission and reception deviceaccording to claim 2, wherein said first threshold value judgmentsection is constituted comprising a nonlinear fiber loop.
 6. The opticaldivision multiplexing transmission and reception device according toclaim 2, wherein said second threshold value judgment section isconstituted comprising a nonlinear fiber loop.
 7. The optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device according to claim 2,wherein said first threshold value judgment section is constitutedcomprising a light saturable absorber.
 8. The optical divisionmultiplexing transmission and reception device according to claim 2,wherein said second threshold value judgment section is constitutedcomprising a light saturable absorber.